The Last Mimzy: Critic Reviews

A pleasantly dorky adaptation of Lewis Padgett's 1943 sci-fi story directed by New Line honcho Bob Shaye.

Wholesome, eager entertainment that doesn't talk down.

This is a solidly impressive kids' sci-fi.

The movie grows muddled with too many tedious segments involving adults.

Unfortunately, the movie triggers more intriguing ideas than it has the storytelling acumen to consolidate.

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.

You'd be far better off tracking down the original tale than trying to untangle Bob Shaye's choppy adaptation.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

An involving fantasy for beamish boys and girls -- and their parents. At moments, Mimzy captures the moonbeam awe of E.T.

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.

There are too many distracting elements to allow a viewer total immersion in the story.

After a slightly sluggish start, director Shaye directs with assurance, and the kids are delightful.

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.

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.'

The Last Mimzy is that phenomenon as welcome as the first robin of spring, a kids' movie that is more than bearable for adults.

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.

A reasonably engaging movie filled with fun visual effects and an appealing tone reminiscent of a certain Spielberg movie about an out-of-his-element extraterrestrial.

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.

Does an excellent job both making science fiction accessible for a younger audience.

Classic kids' fantasy in the spirit of Flight of the Navigator and ET.