Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

When I was little, I often pretended the stuffed animals populating my room were alive. In The Last Mimzy, young Emma Wilder (Rhiannon Leigh Wryn) isn't pretending. Mimzy, a stuffed rabbit that mysteriously appeared in an ornate box she and her brother Noah (Chris O'Neil) found on the beach, speaks to her through a strange language that sounds like mechanized purring, but intuitive Emma is able to understand. Mimzy is a messenger from another time, and now Emma and Noah are the last hope for humanity's future.

This is a strange, mind-bending sort of movie with a very New Agey bent. Emma performs telekinesis, while Noah becomes so intimately attuned to the world around him that he is able to instruct spiders to spin their webs into architecturally sound bridges. Though Emma has the strongest connection with the mysterious forces swirling into life around them, she can't do her job without Noah, so the siblings must team up against a world that can't comprehend the importance of their mission, which is to send Mimzy forward through time with a cure for what ails the people of the future.

Once their anxious mom (Joely Richardson) and overworked dad (Timothy Hutton) realize that their children are caught up in something much larger than themselves, they become pretty freaked out, and for assistance they turn to Noah's science teacher, Larry White (Rainn Wilson), and his girlfriend, palm reader Naomi Schwartz (Kathryn Hahn). Ever since their trip to Nepal, he has been having mysterious, vivid dreams, and when he realizes that Noah has been drawing the same mandala that's been appearing in his nighttime visions, he's certain there must be a connection. But what could it be? And when a homeland security contingent led by Nathaniel Broadman (Michael Clarke Duncan) shows up after Noah accidentally causes a power outage, how will the children manage to complete their all-important task?

The acting is solid all around, particularly the delicate Wryn and O'Neil, both of whom are first-time film stars, and Wilson, who is totally sympathetic as a passionate educator and an ordinary guy who wants to delve into the mysteries of the universe. Director Robert Shaye does an excellent job in allowing us to see what the children see and hear what they hear. I'm not a particular fan of loud mechanized noises, so all the strange sounds grated a bit after a while, but I never got tired of seeing Emma pixelize her hand.

The movie makes direct reference to Alice in Wonderland and is reminiscent of E.T. It also reminded me of paranormal movies like Phenomenon, Powder, Escape to Witch Mountain and The Dark Crystal. The relationship between Emma and Noah is touching, and the special effects are nifty. It's an odd film, and it seems to have an agenda of mind expansion and accepting the possibility of extraterrestrials. There seem to be some biological improbabilities at play, and I find it very hard to believe that the children could break out of a secure government facility and steal a van without setting off any alarms. On the whole, though, it's an entertaining family film that will probably signal the start of an impressive career for its young leads.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD