The Last Mimzy

Hello?

Directed by the current CEO of New Line Cinema, The Last Mimzy is a children's fantasy movie which goes along the grains of having its children protagonists developing special powers, communicating with one another and with an alien object that no adult (or anyone else for that matter) can, and to help save some futuristic civilization. Sounds like a typical walk in the park for any children's movie you might add.

The Wilder siblings Noah (Chris O'Neil) and Emma (Rhiannon Leigh Wryn) find a mysterious box with strange markings, containing some weird toys, amongst which includes a harmless looking soft toy bunny christened Mimzy. Soon enough Noah starts developing intellectual prowess bordering on genius and like Peter Parker would do without eyeglasses, while Emma, with Mimzy clutched closely to chest, starts to exhibit powers that a psychic would, in addition to being able to play five stones that float and with a light show included.

As parents and adults (Noah's schoolteacher and his wife), they have a natural tendency for disbelief and to second guess the children, as all adults would in a made for children's movie. And the authorities are hunting for them, just as they would, as targets of a resulting city wide blackout.

If anything, the chemistry between the child actors playing the siblings is believable enough, and you would agree with me that Rhiannon Leigh Wryn is adorable as the kid sister whose innocence and love play a crucial role in the movie's plot. There are a few moments with injected humour, which I thought Asian audiences would identify with immediately with Kathryn Hahn's role as a "numbers" obsessed lady, and for technical geeks, watch out for that logo (I've actually had a friend who was expecting it to pop out, and to our surprise, it did!)

Expect the rudimentary plot development, characters as well as special effects that are just functional rather than to wow. It should serve as pretty interesting for a kid, but for an adult, we would have already seen other more superior stories, beginning with Spielberg's ET.