and the Goonies captured a young generation's imagination by giving the kids a goal to follow early E.T wants to go home The Goonies want to find a treasure. The basic model of any successful kid's picture is there, but is buried so deeply in this massively overcomplicated plotting kids won't wait around to see.įilm's like E.T. Tibetan symbolism, theories on time travel and nano-technnology, literary history of Lewis Carrol and his creation of Alice in Wonderland, and the consequences of polluting DNA and its future implications are but a few of the pearls of wisdom interwoven throughout the narrative even the current political relevance of â"The Patriot Act" is included! Clever, yes, but about as interesting to a ten year-old as his science teacher springing a pop quiz. With very advanced theories, theologies, technologies, and history sprawled throughout in copious doses, what regular kid would understand, or have the patience to try, is a question the filmmaker's seemed to have forgotten to ask. The complexity of this script is mind-boggling, as is who exactly the makers were aiming this at. Quickly these objects prove to be anything but normal, and a mystery with rather large implications unfolds. Perhaps we just forget what it's like to see things in that way anymore once we've grown up? The Last Mimzy is a unique misstep, in that it avoids talking down to kids like most of its peers, but it travels so far above their point of view there is no hope of them connecting.īased very loosely on a 1943 Lewis Padget short story, The Last Mimzy tells the story of Noah (Chris O'Neil) and Emma (Rhiannon Leigh Wryn), a young brother and sister who discover a mysterious box in the surf, and find objects inside, including a toy rabbit named Mimzy.
It is a rare thing when a children's picture these days manages to remember how smart a kid can be, and at the same time deliver a story that embraces the unique and short-lived point of view they possess.
Too often, it is assumed that children are morons, and what is delivered is a pandering condescension that is so simple a monkey could watch it. Few genres are more challenging to tackle than that of a kid's picture.