The Last Mimzy Review

Bottom-Line: The Last Mimzy was quite quaint, but ultimately unfulfilling; I wanted more than the movie had to offer.

Magic; I mean the real stuff and not the slight-of-hand craft practiced by earth bound magicians, has always been the subject of wonder.  Children, as the legend goes, believe in true magic, adults do not.  The 2007 movie The Last Mimzy would proffer a rather thoughtful explanation having to do with brain cells or the lack thereof in human adult's verses children.  I don't know if I buy it, but I have to keep reminding myself that it's just a movie.

Directed by Robert Shaye (Book of Love), The Last Mimzy chronicles the adventures of brother and sister, Noah (Chris O'Neil) and Emma (Rhiannon Leigh Wryn) Wilder slightly before and after they find a mysterious box on the beach on Whidbey Island in the state of Washington.   The Wilder's live a typical upper-middle class existence: mother Jo Wilder portrayed by Joely Richardson (Nip/Tuck, The Patriot, The Affair of the Necklace) is a housewife.  Meanwhile, dad David Wilder portrayed by Timothy Hutton (Taps, Turk 182!, Kinsey) is the busy always at work but loveable, attentive father.

For the most part The Last Mimzy played it safe, never really exploring the world of the future or magic in any depth.  It played it safe in the present as well never really explaining how the box and resulting Mimzy's came into being and how they bestowed the power they did upon the children.  Was it magic or micro-miniaturized chips (nano-technology) that allowed the children to speak with spiders, move things with their minds, and float?  Those questions were not really answered to my satisfaction.  There were other missteps as well, but the forgoing are the most glaring. 

When the closing credits rolled, the movie had taken a predictable turn: all was well and human evolution had progressed to the point where speech was no longer necessary, human flight was the norm and Emma was the mother of all.  Quite quaint, but ultimately unfulfilling; I wanted more than The Last Mimzy had to offer, and as it turns out my daughter left filling unfulfilled as well; she did not like the movie as much as she liked The Bridge to Tarabifia, despite the fact that no one died (her words not mine).                  

Reviewer's Note: I would not ordinarily use this space to make a commentary about race, and the lack of color in children's films, but enough is enough.  The Last Mimzy is just the latest in a long line of movie aimed at children in which Caucasian children are the hero's.   It follows closely on the heels of The Bridge to Tarabifia, The Chronicles of Narnia, Zathura: A Space Adventure, Jumanji , Finding Neverland, and the Harry Potter series, just to name a few, in which children of color-any color-are either missing or just a footnote.  

Most might question my motives for bringing this up, stating that the movies are innocent fun for children.  They (the one who might question) obviously are not raising children of color who ask why they never see anyone like themselves depicted in these movies, and why children of color are never portrayed as intelligent, thoughtful, or meaningful.  After a while it starts taking a psychological toll on the child, who begins to question the worthiness and usefulness of their particular hue of skin; yes I have three of my four daughters express a desire to be Caucasian at some point in their young lives.    

We The People of The United States of America are increasing more and more diverse, and I don't think it is asking too much for that diversity to start to be depicted on the silver screen, and the small screen for that matter.  Hollywood needs to do better and we need to do better in demanding that our growing diversity as a nation be represented much more fairly.  The hero's in our children stories-or our grown up stories for that matter-need not always be Caucasian to be creditable or profitable.