‘The Last Mimzy’ is not worth a topic of its own, but we can use this for other movies for kids. ‘The Last Mimzy’ has a somewhat over-complicated plot about humanity in the future dying out because of the legacy of pollution. They send Mimzy’s (a stuffed rabbit made by Intel with assorted tools for time travel) back in time in the hope that children in the past will be able to figure out the message send unpolluted genes into the future. I have not made this sound particularly good, but it really is a sweet movie. It avoids the portrayal of overly stupid or evil adults — in fact all the characters are sympathetic — and the kids are especially good. There is a sense of wonder and possibility that makes this a classic children’s film. And Timothy Hutton… whatever happened to him? He used to be at the top of the second tier of male actors (Q&A, for example), but then disappeared. He enjoys himself in this. Oh, and Rainn Wilson (Dwight in the Office) is really good as a grade school science teacher.
Timothy Hutton has kept busy. I like him a lot too. For a couple of years he was the star of a cable series of Nero Wolfe mysteries. It required hiim to wear bright yellow and white suits while acting tough at the same time. I never watched more than 10 minutes of it at a time, but it didn’t seem 100% horrible.
He was also in a quickly cancelled series called “Kidnapped,” which had a great cast including Hal Hartley regulars James Urbaniak and Robert John Burke.
I meant to post on ‘Shrek the Third’ after I watched it last week but forgot. Certainly entertaining: better than the second one and less good than the first. More and more, these movies seem aimed at the adults more than the kids. The fart jokes and dialogue between Donkey and Puss in Boots keep the kids happy, while we get sly references to movies the kids could not possibly have seen and enough social commentary to feel good about the moviegoing experience.
Nonetheless, there are some very funny scenes, especially the medieval high school, and the theme — angst about growing up, taking responsibility, becoming a parent — is incorporated into the humor of the movie without ever being preachy or even treacly. And Shrek has a great dream about being over-run with little baby ogres. I had that dream.
Nicola, Cate and I laughed very much, which is all one can ask from such a film. I was unprepared to like it as much as I did (maybe it was all of the theatre references) based upon the reviews, but Shrek the Third is a lot of fun.