The Last Mimzy 2007

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Shaye gives the film a message well worth hearing: Today's kids, constantly distracted by electronic devices, don't spend enough time connecting with each other and with their families. But this idea is buried among too many talky scenes with the adults. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: The movie fails to supply us with an antagonist to work up some dramatic conflict. Nor are the toys themselves very interesting and Mimzy is a toy bunny of no distinction. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The movie strains credibility once the children and their parents are rounded up by a Department of Homeland Security even more incompetent than the real one, but for a family picture this is still superior. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: On its own lightweight terms, The Last Mimzy is a small gem. And it has the best family breakfast joke this side of Little Miss Sunshine. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: New Line powerbroker/director Robert Shaye has made a children's film for stoners, a trippy, psychedelic fable that belongs in the DVD section of New Age bookstores alongside the strangely similar What The Fuck Do We Know? Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: So not only is The Last Mimzy saving the environment but also making a statement on government intrusion into private lives. It's clear director Robert Shaye has an agenda, and it tends to step on the rest of his movie. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: True to the emotional reality of its young characters and young audience and flattering the latter into thinking way outside the box. There are worse things to teach than intellectual ambition. Read more

Michael Ordona, Los Angeles Times: The film is clearly well-meaning but hampered by the heavy-handed direction of Robert Shaye and egregious use of James Horner's score, constantly cuing the warming of the heart. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The Last Mimzy, it should be said, is exceedingly mild whimsy. It also has a story that no doubt will be too diffuse for small children -- or the big adults who accompany them. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Science in the service of wonder can save a life and a world. And this pleasing, teasing, intelligent family flick can vastly improve a day. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: A pleasantly dorky adaptation of Lewis Padgett's 1943 sci-fi story directed by New Line honcho Bob Shaye. Read more

Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com: The Last Mimzy is that phenomenon as welcome as the first robin of spring, a kids' movie that is more than bearable for adults. Read more

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: Fails to balance the drama, comedy and supernatural elements. When Mimzy, the bunny, starts whispering orders, this little kid's movie threatens to turn into a horror film. Read more

Globe and Mail: Read more

Nancy Churnin, Dallas Morning News: You have to give credit to a film such as Mimzy that, unlike most quick ha-ha, make-a-buck stuff for kids, could actually get them thinking about making a difference in a world in desperate need of change. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: A capable, if modest, charmer. And for a sci-fi kiddie pic, it's unusually sparing with the special effects, which in this case rarely get in the way of the human factor. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Goes about its business with a welcomely wry humor that undercuts the scenario's earnest New Age-y potential. If it isn't always crystal clear about what's on its mind, it speaks its heart in a language that kids totally get. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: The picture grows pretentious in parts and the ending is anticlimactic. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: You'd be far better off tracking down the original tale than trying to untangle Bob Shaye's choppy adaptation. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: After a slightly sluggish start, director Shaye directs with assurance, and the kids are delightful. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Awkwardly constructed, with a lame teacher-tells-a-story-in-the-future framework that gets the film off on the wrong foot. It takes a good, long while to get going, and the action doesn't exactly crackle when it does. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: An involving fantasy for beamish boys and girls -- and their parents. At moments, Mimzy captures the moonbeam awe of E.T. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The movie's poor focus and scattershot approach, while not without its charms, represents the kind of product that may divert children but will likely puzzle adults with its inconsistency. Read more

G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle: A good-looking, relatively ambitious movie that respects and enhances [sci-fi writer] Kuttner's vision. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Teresa Budasi, Chicago Sun-Times: On the surface, it sounds like an E.T. clone. Oh, if only. Where Steven Spielberg's 25-year-old masterpiece had heart to spare, Mimzy is an emotionless empty shell. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The gentleness of the film is almost unique in this day and age. It's a true family movie, one that adults likely won't groan at when they are told that the problems of the future are because 'our precious quality of humanity had been turned off.' Read more

Trevor Johnston, Time Out: Occasionally arresting ideas and a non-condescending attitude to its pre-teen protagonists give this more character than many effects-driven family fantasies, even if it's ultimately too wonky in construction to sweep us along convincingly. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: It's refreshing to be reminded that an intelligent, exciting family movie isn't always an oxymoron. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: The movie grows muddled with too many tedious segments involving adults. Read more

John Anderson, Variety: There are too many distracting elements to allow a viewer total immersion in the story. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Unfortunately, the movie triggers more intriguing ideas than it has the storytelling acumen to consolidate. Read more