: London Daily Mail: Flight 93 'was shot down' Promoters, as they are wont to do, marketed "The Last Mimzy" as sci-fi for kids, playing up the fantasy aspects and implying the film was persona non adult. They got that so wrong. New on DVD, the picture's an all-access gem that children -- and grown-ups who appreciate imaginative thinking -- are bound to succumb to.
The movie's based on a short story -- the adaptation's covered in the mini-featurettes, many of which run less than a minute, in the well-designed extras. In the picture's lively modern-day universe, young siblings played by Chris O'Neil and the enchanting Rhiannon Leigh Wryn find alien toys on the beach. One takes the form of a stuffed rabbit who speaks only to the girl.
The more the kids play with the objects -- which they hide from their parents -- the smarter they become; not just everyday-smart but genius-smart. This perplexes their parents (Timothy Hutton and Joely Richardson), the boy's science teacher (Rainn Wilson of "The Office") and, eventually, the government. The plotting's sound, the direction's tight and the family interactions are believable, but what really sells the picture are the touching performances by the kids, who are perfect in their roles.
Extras: Click "Infinifilm" for explanatory shorts about casting, time travel, genetics, physics and mandalas in language even grownups should understand. "Interactive Challenge" reveals the games "Spider Bridge," "Memory Match" and "Mandala Mix-Up." I tried "Spider Bridge" -- direct a spider, like an Etch-a-Sketch, to match a design at the side.
After my third wrong move, the sound of kids giggling filled the audio, so be forewarned if you or your children are slow to learn and overly sensitive. Also: DVD-rom/online and a "need help?" features.
Hallmark of sentimentality "Sweet Land" plays like a Hallmark Channel movie: It's pretty, it's stagy, it champions strong values and sentimentality -- and it is very earnest. Based on the short story "A Gravestone Made of Wheat," the film centers around beautiful Inge (Elizabeth Reaser), a German mail-order bride who speaks less than bare-bones English when she arrives in Minnesota to marry strong-but-shy Olaf (Tim Guinee), a laconic Norwegian immigrant farmer. As Inge struggles to fit in, she faces anti-German sentiment from the community and its narrow-minded preacher (John Heard), who throws roadblocks in their marriage plans.
The story's told as a long flashback within a flashback, with Inge's grown grandson remembering his grandmother (played by Spielberg regular Lois Smith) telling him about her arrival in America. Alan Cumming, as Olaf's neighbor and friend, appears to move to a rock drummer while everyone else moves to a waltz. A cold banker and the threat of losing a farm pad the plot.
At least the ending satisfies. Extras: Commentary by filmmakers and leads improves after a dull start; a making-of short. The family-friendly fantasy "Astronaut Farmer" is reminiscent of "October Sky" with its down-home "hey, kids, let's build a rocket" attitude and easy-going style.
Billy Bob Thornton, more engaging than usual, stars as an astronaut washout who lives with his understanding wife (Virginia Madsen) and their adoring young daughters on a farm whose barn houses a rocket ship he's been building for years. The townspeople are behind him; there's not much else to do there. After a magazine article launches him into the celebrity-sphere, the U.
S. government becomes involved and the story becomes too predictable. Thornton's performance as a farmer named Farmer, with strong support from Madsen and other cast members, keeps you rooting him on as he pursues his version of the American Dream: to launch the rocket ship and fly it around Earth.
(What, you never had a dream?) Extras: Outtakes and a making-of feature. Promoters, as they are wont to do, marketed "The Last Mimzy" as sci-fi for kids, playing up the fantasy aspects and implying the film was persona non adult.
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