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A Couple Of Quick Looks At THE LAST MIMZY!!
Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.
I haven’t heard much about Bob Shaye’s latest directorial effort, but anything’s got to be better than BOOK OF LOVE. One thing’s for sure... if THE LAST MIMZY somehow becomes a freak hit, grossing $500 million worldwide, then forget about Sam Raimi. We’re going to see BOB SHAYE’S THE HOBBIT come 2008.
And come on... doesn’t that sound like it’d be worth your $10, either good or bad?
We’ve got two mini-reviews today. Here’s the first:
I saw The Last Mimsy on Saturday just hours after seeing 300. I had mixed emotions about seeing this film. On one hand I really liked the Lewis Padgett story "Mimsy were the Borogroves", I story I read back in high school in the seventies. On the other hand, this is a film made by the devil's foremost bum polisher, Bob Shaye, the man who condemns Peter Jackson. Okay, so I don't know for sure that Bob Shaye uses asbestos chapstick and kisses his most infernal majesty's backside, but that is the impression I get from his statements regarding using Peter Jackson for the Hobbit. Still, I try to mainstain an addititude of love the art, even when the artist looks like a walking cheese dildo.
Given that mixed motivation for seeing the film, I came away with mixed feelings about the film, too. I think the kids in the film do a good job. The adults in the film seem to be force fed major mind altering substances to make them be especially stupid. Consider this film in light of E.T. E.T. did not flinch in showing the downside of meeting an alien and having the governement track you down. In The Last Mimsy, you have Homeland Security blasting into people's lives and leaving without a trace, almost like having a drive-by shooting with paintguns. The only reason to put Michael Clarke Duncan in this role is to emphasize his Instead of parents who are trained to ignore much of what kids do, you have parents who seem interested in what their kids do, but they are too stupid to understand what is happening. Timothy Hutton as the father is completely clueless until his daughter dumps the obvious practically into his lap psychokinetically. Rainn Wilson's performance as the teacher clearly shows why this guy is teaching grade school, he has A.D.D! He can't decide if he wants to be the Science Teacher or the New Age Mystic, so he does both. Kathryn Hahn, as his girlfriend, also bounces between enlighten soul who learned palmistry in Nepal (does the Dali Llama teach palmistry?) and money grubbing lottery whore.
If you go into this film mindless and uncaring, you will come out the same way. If you come in intelligent and thoughtful you will probably leave feeling insulted and cheated. If you want to see this at least take a twelve year old with you who won't be too critical. They will get the most out of this film.
If you use this, I am Lang the Cat
Faint praise, indeed. Let’s see if our other spy liked it any better. I’m looking forward to checking it out for myself sometime soon.
Hi Harry,
Longtime reader, very occasional talkbacker, newbie poster. I took advantage of the chance of seeing "The Last Mimzy" at the special screening last Saturday. I don't know if I was expecting much, but what I got was a really mixed bag. Here's a short spoiler-free synopsis:
"Mimzy" is the story of a brother and sister named Noah and Emma(precocious child actors Chris O'Neil and Rhiannon Leigh Wryn) who discover a mysterious container on the beach. Inside are several 'toys,' although I would say it's more like a stuffed bunny and a bunch of rocks. The rocks are unusual, so I'll say they're toy-like. Soon after, brother and sister both begin to gain intelligence at a rapid rate. They are told by the bunny - that being the Mimzy of the title - that they are the last hope for the future of humanity.
The premise itself is a decent one, although not entirely original. The film begins with ample promise, with an opening sequence that gives some hope. The next ten to twenty minutes feel a little like E.T., but then things slowly lose momentum. The script is the biggest problem. The sum of the parts do not even come close to adding up. While the kids do cool things and there are glimpses of potential greatness, this ends up becoming a preachy family movie that is too complicated for the kids, and too disjunct and too unresolved for the adults. I found myself asking "what was the point of all that when they end it like that?" The kids themselves are serviceable, with Wryn stealing the show as Emma. Joely Richardson is always nice to look at, but she has little of interest to do here as the neglected/loving/concerned mother. Timothy Hutton has the same problem as the workaholic/caring/involved Dad. Michael Clarke Duncan plays a government type but is given no character development and nothing to do but be the heavy when the script decides he needs to be. Rainn Wilson, who I like, is wasted here in a role that could have been done by any character actor.
Overall, I can't wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone, but I am glad I saw it for those glimpses of imagination. If only the follow through was better...
If you use this, I am BATguy. If not, I'm still BATguy.
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What the heck is a Mimzy?!?!?!?!?
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Why do fantasy movies always have such DORKY titles?
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This is the kinda shit that i'd expect to see on Sci-Fi Channel's Saturday Night movie of the week.
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But seriously, this is a bit of a bummer to hear. I just watched the trailer tonight for the first time, and it looked like it could be pretty spiffy.
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I saw this movie 6 months ago at the studio screening, it was cute, I agree w/ the ET type of feel, but it had a great vibe of fun and non-stop action and effects were pretty great. I think they added "the Last" to the title to emphasize a plot point you discover in the end of the film, dont think it was neccessary to do, MIMZY was fine on it's own. I love Rainn Wilson and he was fun in this, very serious and compulsive, nice break from his Office persona. I spoke to him on the red carpet at the Golden Globes and he was surprised I had seen the film because he hadn't even seen it yet himself. If you liked Zathura, Star Kid and ET, you'll like this...
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I was hoping for a return to an intelligent, family genre film that didn't have to play cute like Spy Kids, a return to quality stuff we saw in the 80s, like Explorers. BLAWARGH.
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How is "serious and compulsive" a break from Wilson's Dwight on "The Office?" To be honest, every time I see Rainn Wilson in something, it seems like he's just being Dwight. However, I haven't seen him in everything, so I could be wrong.
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that first review was a little garbled and nonsensical.
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i cant remember more laughing at a trailer in theatres than both times i saw the trailer for that garBAHge.
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A lot of venom and gnashing of teeth and wetting oneself, but that's about it.
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if you recognize the name in my nick, you'll know why.
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We're all impressed.
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where is the hostility coming from?
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I think Bunny Cohen and Mimsy Silverberg could only live in your imagination. I have never met any WASPy Jews.
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Worst Fucking Name for a Movie Ever. EVER.
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Read it here:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/386gf8
Seems Bob Shaye might not be evil - just too sensitive and a bit low on the social intelligence. I kinda like that he's not the typical hollywood suit. -
Since mimzy is slang for vagina there. As if the title wasn't ridiculous enough already.
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I don't agree with the reviewer who said it would be hard for young kids to follow. I took a six-year-old to the sneak last weekend and he followed it just fine. The confusion of the less educated on the contrasting goals of Kathryn Hahn's character is understandable. In the West we get force-fed the image of the Eastern mystic who strives to obliterate his material desires. However, there's a long history of Eastern mystics coming West with their alms-baskets ready to receive, and a long tradition of praying for material success and luck in both
Western and Eastern religions. It's down to the point where the fortune cookie bakers have put lottery numbers on the fortune slips, and in the West of course, Janis Joplin making fun of this in Christianity with (sing along kids) "Oh Lord won't you buy a MERCEDES BENZ". As for Rainn, his character was a science teacher, yeah, but he also had his girlfriend's back. Now THERE'S a lesson for the nerds. -
"Mimsy Were The Borogoves" not groves, and I remember really enjoying it when I read it about 10 years ago. This sounds nothing like it. All I can imagine is that the whole thing is a new version of the Day After Tomorrow, with future kids telling present kids "please stop polluting the planet; it's killing everyone in our time!" Ugh. Someone PLEASE tell me I'm wrong.
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That was the worst thing I've ever read. I actually registered just to tell you that. Please reserve that pretentious shit for Hollywood Elsewhere.
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Starfighter.
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Sorry about the fragmented sentence. What I meant to say was that the only reason Michael Clarke Duncan was in the film was to emphasize the difference between his size and the kids.
I stand by the comment about Bob Shaye's remarks making him seem like a cheese dildo though.
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