I saw THE LAST MIMZY this weekend and though it’s got its share of problems, it made me optimistic for the future of humanity. Hell, at least someone’s got a vision of how popular entertainment SHOULD be, what it COULD do — where instead of relying on vulgarity and cheap sentiment it goes into some deep “What the Bleep Do We Know” style issues. There’s some sly commentary about the over-stimulation of the modern mediated self and a very 1970s approach to the characters, where we sort of see them from the outside looking in. No tiresome slang or annoying musical cues. The boy in the movie cannot sit still and is bored by everything except computer games…a tragic moment has his mom and daughter looking up at the night sky in awe of the stars while he stands there lost in his little handheld nintendo thing.

You really don’t have to preach after an image like that; it does all the talking. But of course there’s a lot more going on here, too: the sly way the film makes Buddhist philosophy part of our cinematic reality, co-opting the simulacrum for the benefit of mankind sort of thing. Yes the Pepsi ™ can the boy is able to mentally transport through a worm hole is very plainly lit and turned so you can read the label most clearly, but hell — it’s progress not perfection. We’re not gonna get anywhere by fighting Pepsi. The only way to save the world is to ride Pepsi like the mighty stallion it’s always wanted to be. Ride Pepsi, ride into the future! Pepsi and the Dali Lama, a perfect union? Stranger things have happened…. and it’s only gonna get weirder from here on out.