| 75 |
Entertainment Weekly
The newcomer kids are delightfully...kidlike. Cosmic bonus: "The Office's" Rainn Wilson plays a New Agey science teacher.
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| 75 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Call it "E.T." for a new generation.
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| 75 |
TV Guide
An intelligent, imaginative children's adventure refreshingly free of rapping cartoon animals, fart jokes and mind-numbing special effects.
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| 75 |
New York Post
An unexpectedly disarming, extremely well-cast little variation on "E.T."
|
| 75 |
San Francisco Chronicle
G. Allen Johnson
Though it becomes flimsy toward the end, it's a ripping yarn.
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| 75 |
Boston Globe
For smart kids between the ages of 8 and 12, the movie hits the sweet spot with a satisfying cosmic bang. It's a cross between "A Wrinkle in Time" and a middle-school version of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."
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| 75 |
The Onion (A.V. Club)
If Mimzy serves as a gateway drug that gets "Shrek" fans into classic science fiction, then it'll have performed an invaluable cultural service.
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| 75 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
An involving fantasy for beamish boys and girls - and their parents.
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| 75 |
Miami Herald
On paper, it may sound like high-level calculus, but on screen, The Last Mimzy is perfectly charming. Like "Cocoon" for the elementary-school set, the box transforms Noah and Emma's lives.
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| 70 |
Chicago Reader
For a family picture this is still superior.
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| 70 |
LA Weekly
A capable, if modest, charmer.
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| 70 |
The Hollywood Reporter
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.
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| 70 |
Village Voice
Rob Nelson
Mimzy, whose charmingly retro FX date to around 1985, won't post Peter Jackson figures at the box office, but you can't say that Shaye doesn't have the magic touch.
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| 63 |
ReelViews
For adults, while The Last Mimzy is not unpleasant, it lacks the polish and substance to be anything more than an opportunity to attend a movie with one's family. The film does a lot of things but it never fully satisfies.
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| 63 |
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
So that great start turns all clunky and dull and, you know, mediocre. Still, you'll love Emma. Emma is about as cute as a kid can get.
|
| 60 |
Variety
John Anderson
Kids will like Mimzy if for no other reason than it doesn't talk down to them.
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| 50 |
Austin Chronicle
This children's sci-fi movie should be palatable to the young and old alike, yet it's ultimately more a mild diversion than a magical adventure.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Tribune
The sense of the unknown that "Padgett" created are largely absent. And 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.
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| 50 |
Washington Post
The best element of the movie is a subplot involving Noah's spiritually obsessed teacher (Rainn Wilson) and his wacky girlfriend (Kathryn Hahn), whose bumbling eccentricities give the movie an emotional liveliness it otherwise lacks.
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| 50 |
Christian Science Monitor
There is a dearth of good children's films right now, at least of the nonanimated variety, and undoubtedly The Last Mimzy will fill a vacuum for some families. But it's a default choice, not a prime pick.
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| 50 |
New York Daily News
For many kids, the response to the original story remains delighted awe. The most appropriate response here is a thoroughly baffled "huh?"
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| 50 |
Baltimore Sun
The Last Mimzy displays a gentle touch and the best of intentions. But the film's message never quite becomes clear; what, exactly, are young minds supposed to take away from this film?
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| 50 |
Los Angeles Times
Michael Ordona
Being a "family film" may excuse many faults, considering the intended audience, but it's hard to think of a recent movie that has more determinedly married the engaging with the banal.
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| 50 |
USA Today
The film feels as if it's trying to force a sense of wonder and awe upon its youthful audience, rather than simply letting an intriguing story unfold naturally.
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| 50 |
The New York Times
Despite leaden direction and a story crammed with pseudoscientific flotsam -- including palm reading, levitation, time travel and telepathy -- The Last Mimzy is a wholesome, eager entertainment that doesn't talk down.
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