Synopsis

While exploring a beach house, siblings Emma and Noah Wilder discover a mysterious box of toys, including a stuffed rabbit they name Mimzy. The objects awaken unusual abilities in the children and attract the attention of their parents, teacher, and government agents. As the family pieces together the toys' origin, Emma and Noah learn that Mimzy carries an urgent message from the future.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film is loosely based on the 1943 science-fiction short story "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" by Lewis Padgett, the shared pen name of writers Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore.

• The movie's story expands the short story's ideas into an environmental science-fiction adventure centered on a brother and sister, rather than directly adapting its original setting and characters.

• Producer and filmmaker Robert Shaye later said he disliked the title. A replacement title, "The Gifted," was considered, but the production had progressed too far for the change to be practical.

• The giant cockroaches seen covering a surveillance camera lens were live insects rather than computer-generated effects. The production reportedly used three cockroach wranglers to manage them.

• The visual effects team used technology developed for the spiders in "Charlotte's Web" (2006) for the sequence in which Noah controls a spider on its web.

• Roger Waters recorded "Hello (I Love You)" for the soundtrack. The song was written by Waters and Howard Shore, who also composed the film's score.

• The film was released in the United States on March 23, 2007, by New Line Cinema. It was filmed partly in Roberts Creek on British Columbia's Sunshine Coast.

• The title does not appear until the end credits, making its late arrival one of the film's more unusual credit details.