(c) 2007 Michael and I loved this metaphysical 5-star movie family movie about a little girl, Emma (Rhiannon Leigh Wryn) and her older brother Noah (Chris O’Neil) who found a “pod” on the beach of their summer home which contained some strange and lovely toys and a little stuffed bunny she called Mimzy who talks to Emma mind-to-mind.
As the children play with these “toys,” they begin to display higher and higher intelligence levels. Their teacher tells their parents that they seem to have grown beyond genius. Their parents, too, realize something extraordinary is happening. The little girl connected with the special toys in the pod and ended up with the power of telekinesis. Her brother connected with it and drew a series of ancient mandalas. His teacher (Timothy Hutton) noticed the designs and recognized them as ancient famous mandalas from sacred books. The mandala is a generic term for any plan, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically. Mimzy had something to do with the cosmos.
When a blackout shuts down the city and the government traces the source of the power surge to Emma’s family’s house. Things quickly spin wildly out of their control. The children try to hide the toys, but the government agents take their parents. The children eventually lead the agents to the special toys and a scientific scan shows that Mimzy is part extremely high level electronic, and part organic! Everyone realizes that they are involved in something incredible…but exactly what?
What I liked about the film is that Noah’s school teacher listens to the kids when no one else seemed to take them seriously. Some teachers are like that. Love that.
The movie was based on a sci-fi short story by Lewis Padgett and is rated for children age 8 and above (although I think smaller children would like the movie as well). It is produced by Michael Phillips (The Sting, Close Encounters of the Third Kind) and directed by Bob Shaye (executive producer of, among other films, The Lord of the Rings trilogy). https://movies.aol.com/movie/the-last-mimzy/28054/video/trailer-no-1/1863094