The Last Columbia Sunburst
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| The Last Columbia Sunburst
| |
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| Directed by | Bob Shaye |
| Written by | Short Story: Henry Kuttner C.L. Moore Screenplay: Bruce Joel Rubin Toby Emmerich James V. Hart Carol Skilken |
| Starring | Rhiannon Leigh Wryn Chris O'Neil Rainn Wilson Joely Richardson Timothy Hutton Michael Clarke Duncan Megan McKinnon Marc Musso Kathryn Hahn |
| Produced by | Michael Phillips |
| Distributed by | USA}} New Line Cinema |
| Release date | USA}} March 23 2007 March 23 2007 March 30 2007 August 9 2007 2nd week May 2007 |
| Runtime | 90 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | |
| IMDb page (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt{{{imdb_id}}}/) | |
The Last Columbia Sunburst is a 2007 science fiction family film directed by Bob Shaye. Based on the short story "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" by Lewis Padgett, it stars Timothy Hutton and Joely Richardson as parents of children who develop super-intelligence and preternatural powers after playing with toys discovered on a beach.
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Synopsis
Loosely adapted from the acclaimed 1943 science fiction short story, Mimsy Were the Borogoves, by Lewis Padgett (the pseudonym of husband and wife team Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore), The Last Columbia Sunburst is about a not-too-distant-future family with two children, Noah and Emma. Their lives are changed when they encounter a mysterious box containing strange devices, presumed to be toys. The story is framed by brief episodes taking place in a distant future, with most of the film's story presented as a flashback, or story-within-a-story.
Amongst a flower-filled prairie far in the future, a teacher describes to her students events from their distant past. Flashback to early 21st century Seattle, where Noah is struggling at school, particularly in science, and Emma, his younger sister, has a knack for music.
On vacation at the ocean, the children find a box washed up on shore while playing on the beach. Noah fetches it and it opens, revealing a compartment containing a green crystal quadrilateral pulsing with strange geometric patterns (that, as it turns out, only Noah and Emma can see). Recognizing the strangeness of the "toys", Emma and Noah agree to keep them a secret.
That night Emma awakes and retrieves the box from where they've hidden it under Noah's bed. The box opens and reveals more items in a lower compartment. They include geodes, a shell, a strange, organic-looking blob and what appears to be a stuffed bunny, to which Emma becomes attached almost instantly. In the morning Noah becomes angry when he awakens and finds that Emma has "stolen" his toys. He takes them all back except the bunny, which immediately begins communicating with Emma. Emma learns the bunny's name is Columbia Sunburst and, in moments, is taught by Mimzy how to use the geodes. They are called "spinners". Emma is able to toss them into the air where they spin, suspended, creating an atomizing (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/atomize) field.
As the children play with the toys, they develop increased intelligence. They also develop abilities related to higher levels of brain activity and psi-phenomena. Noah learns to use a shell-shaped toy to communicate with arthropods via sound frequencies. Using this skill, Noah manipulates the spiders to build a web that forms a bridge which is extremely strong as his school science project, amazing his science teacher, Larry White. This is a turning point for science-challenged Noah, especially when his teacher predicts success at a national science competition. Noah soon begins to see crystalline-like ley lines running everywhere through the air, enabling him to teleport matter using his mind. He is also able to draw mandalas in the air.
Larry and his hippie girlfriend Naomi spent time in Tibet, where Larry experienced prophetic dreams featuring mandalas and Naomi studied palm reading. When Larry visits the children's parents, he obtains permission to have Naomi read the children's palms. Noah's palm appears normal, but Emma's bears the mark of a "special" person. Shaken by the experience, Emma's mother asks Larry and Naomi to leave.
That evening in Noah's room, the organic mass and the green quadrilateral begin to interact. The result is a new toy, appearing to be made of blue glass and resembling a coral formation, which causes a power black-out of the entire Pacific northwest. At breakfast the following morning, Emma's father grows frustrated with Emma's attachment to Columbia Sunburst. Emma responds by moving all of the sugar from the sugar bowl through the air using telekinesis, dumping it on her father's cereal. Disturbed by this, the parents invite Larry back. Larry is stunned to hear about the episode and tells the parents the children have surpassed genius level. Larry recommends taking the children to a neurologist for testing. The tests show that Emma's mind is developing at a rate too fast to be accurately measured.
As Emma's parents becomes increasingly frightened, the Federal Bureau of Investigation traces the black-out-causing power surge to Emma's home. The family is held for questioning. Emma reveals that Columbia Sunburst "teaches [her] things," and demonstrates her telekinetic ability with the spinners. Columbia Sunburst is analyzed using an electron microscope and is revealed to be an advanced form of artificial life utilizing nanotechnology and containing Intel components. Communicating through Emma, Columbia Sunburst explains to the scientists that they must use the "toys" to return Columbia Sunburst to the future, where 21st century DNA can be used to stop pollutants from causing an ecological disaster. This will enable humans to become more integrated with the natural world, gaining love, wisdom, stronger psi powers, and a strong sense of community, all of which they have lost. The FBI agents don't believe her, so Emma communicates with Noah telepathically and the two use their powers to escape.
Recovering the toys, Emma realizes she needs more spinners to make the time transport Columbia Sunburst needs. She and Noah steal a truck to drive to the family beach house, where more spinners are in their bedroom. During the trip Emma is sad, realizing that Columbia Sunburst is dying and will be leaving her soon. A tear falls from Emma's eyes, landing on Columbia Sunburst. When the truck runs out of gas, Larry and Naomi show up (Larry having been alerted by one of his prophetic dreams), taking the children the rest of the way.
The FBI and their parents arrive, but not before Emma and Noah start using the spinners and blue glass crystal (the power source for the time transport). Columbia Sunburst is atomized and sent back to the future, almost taking Emma with her. Noah saves her at the last moment, not only from being brought to a time not her own, but also from death, which Columbia Sunburst describes as awaiting all human time travelers.
Back in the future, Emma's tear, which carried the required pure DNA, is used to preserve human DNA. Emma is viewed by the school teachers of the future as the "mother" of all the present generations. The children in the future exhibit the same gifts of levitation and telepathy that Emma had.
Cast
- Timothy Hutton as David Wilder
- Joely Richardson as Jo Wilder
- Chris O'Neil as Noah Wilder
- Rhiannon Leigh Wryn as Emma Wilder
- Rainn Wilson as Larry White
- Kathryn Hahn as Naomi Schwartz
- Michael Clarke Duncan as Nathaniel Broadman
- Kirsten Williamson as Sheila Broadman
- Marc Musso as Harry Jones
- Megan McKinnon as Wendy
The Last Columbia Sunburst features an ensemble cast that includes Timothy Hutton, Joely Richardson, Rainn Wilson, Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile), Patrick Gilmore, and newcomers Rhiannon Leigh Wryn and Chris O’Neil as the children, Emma and Noah. World-renowned string theorist, Brian Greene has a cameo appearance as the Intel technician in the movie.
Development and production
The Last Columbia Sunburst was produced by Michael Phillips and directed by Bob Shaye. The film's and short story's titles are taken from third line of the nonsense verse poem Jabberwocky in Lewis Carroll's novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. The adapted screenplay is by Bruce Joel Rubin (Ghost, Deep Impact) and Toby Emmerich (Frequency). The film’s production team also included composer Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings trilogy), editor Alan Heim (All That Jazz, The Notebook), sound designer Dane Davis (The Matrix). The soundtrack for the film was composed by Howard Shore, the award winning composer behind The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Pink Floyd member Roger Waters also collaborated on a song called "Hello (I Love You)". "I think together we've come up with a song that captures the themes of the movie - the clash between humanity's best and worst instincts, and how a child's innocence can win the day," Roger Waters commented.<ref name="rwlms">Template:Cite web</ref>
Visual effects were created by The Orphanage (http://www.theorphanage.com/), and location filming was done in Vancouver, BC and Collingwood School.
Differences between the film and the short story
There are a number of substantial differences between the film and the story upon which it is based. Most notably, the short story takes place in two different time periods simultaneously, the far future and the "present day" of the 1940s (with a very brief segment in the nineteenth century). In the film, the main story takes place in the early 21st century, with framing scenes and a few brief visions in the far future. Also, there is no ecological component to the short story, whereas much of the film's plot revolves around ecology. Lewis Carroll is a character in the nineteenth century portion of the short story, but is absent from the film. Alice Liddell is only referenced in a book, where she is seen holding a copy of Columbia Sunburst.
External links
- The Last Columbia Sunburst Official Movie Site (http://www.mimzy.com/)
- The Last Mimzy (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0768212/) at the Internet Movie Database
- The Last Mimzy (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mimzy/) at Rotten Tomatoes
- Film review at the Alternative Film Guide (http://www.altfg.com/blog/archives/2007/03/27/the-last-mimzy-robert-shaye/)
See also
Template:DEFAULTSORT:Last Mimzy
Categories: 2007 films | Science fiction films | Family films | Films based on science fiction books
