This is the only thing that’s kept from the short story:
> Anyway, the kids find a metal box [from the future] in the surf at their summer
> home by the ocean and open it up.
Well, in the story, the home wasn’t by the ocean and the box wasn’t in the surf.
“The Little Black Bag” was written by C.M. Kornbluth; I don’t think there’s any connection. (Although the future glimpsed in “The Little Black Bag” does look like the same future depicted in Kornbluth’s “The Marching Morons”.)
Wait, a sec, though – didn’t Kuttner write “The Twonky”? I always associate that in my mind with “Mimsy Were the Borogoves”, and both involve technology from the future.
The story always bothered me on a very deep level. How do we know there is a survivable “There” where the kids go to? I mean, it is probably millenia before the concept of that “There” was even glimpsed by people, much less observed, explored, and colonized…
My daughter saw the previews and wants to see the film. I dug out a copy of the story for her.
:smack: I can never keep Kornbluth and Kuttner straight.
And Kuttner did write “The Twonky”.
I don’t remember ever reading “All Mimsy were the Borogroves”, so I didn’t have a story to compare the movie to.
That said, however, my wife and I saw it and loved it! The movie is geared toward older children (might be too scary for kids under, oh, 8) with plenty of stuff for adults.
Yes, the thing about Homeland Security saying “oops” and leaving was a little bit unbelievable, but that didn’t bother me much.
I found the movie to be fun, engrossing, charming and very sweet. It was full of actiion and I didn’t want to miss any of it. I really liked the “magical” element and the FX really enhanced the story, IMHO.
I saw 300 and The Last Mimsy on subsequent days. I absolutely loved “300” and would give it an A-. Even though the Last Mimsy’s target audience is pretty much the exact opposite of 300’s, I have to say that I enjoyed The Last Mimsy just about as much as 300. (Uh… I’m going to go put my flame-proof suit on now.) 
J.
Yes, tracking has nothing to do with reviews in this case, but with awareness and visibility. The more people are aware of the film, and are interested in seeing it opening weekend based on this degree of awareness, the better a film “tracks”. I’ve got no dog in this Mimzy hunt, but the fact that the film is tracking so low (“0”) means that publicity isn’t penetrating where it needs to, and that very few people are considering this film a priority amongst their upcoming viewing choices.
What’s worse is that a film also directed toward that same demographic (kids/adolescents) will also be opening the same weekend–one with a huge recognition factor: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Is Mimzy probably a better movie? Yeah, I’d suspect as much, but if few people turn up that weekend for it, it won’t matter much. Plus, another family/fantasy/sci-fi film opens the following weekend–again, one with much greater penetration and recognition factor: Disney’s Meet the Robinsons. This precludes Mimzy from monopolizing the “family” slot. Reviews and word-of-mouth will only help so much, because if out of the gates, it plays like a “bomb”, the studio will want to do what it can to cut its losses. Sadly, them’s the breaks.