n the ice of the Italian Alps, drug company scientist Beth Lider (Susan Gibney)
discovers a perfectly preserved Bronze Age man.
Back in the city, Dr. James Mydell (Olin), a successful fertility
specialist, receives a visit from old friends Brian (Nichols) and Elaine
Cordell (Swedberg of TV's Seinfeld), who need his help to conceive a
child.
Mydell succeeds in implanting a viable embryo in Elaine. That's when he
gets a call from Lider, who has a startling proposal: She'd like him to
extract the sperm from the Bronze Age guy for DNA analysis. She explains, "His could be
perfect, the first from a prehistoric man," from a time before Alzheimer's
disease, sickle cell anemia and a host of modern ailments.
Mydell agrees. In gratitude, Lider ships him a sample of the
3,000-year-old seed.
Elaine, meanwhile, gets into an accident and miscarries. Mydell implants
another embryo with what he thinks is Brian's sperm. But after Elaine becomes
pregnant again, Mydell makes a shocking discovery: A lab error has resulted
in the Bronze Age guy's seed fertilizing Elaine's egg.
Mydell keeps this news to himself. Time passes. A beautiful baby, Adam,
is born. Mydell notices he is normal, but has an odd connection with
animals. Mydell takes a surreptitious blood sample. Adam has antibodies for
diseases like the plague and small pox, but none for more common strains of
flu. Lider, meanwhile, tells Mydell that the Bronze Age guy was carrying a
leather pouch with herbs and mystical implements, meaning he was probably a shaman.
Mydell keeps an encrypted journal of Adam on his computer.
More time passes. The Cordells move to England, then return five years
later.
Adam (now played by Smith) has matured into a preternaturally wise
child, even though he's only six years old. He can stop dogs fighting by whistling
and holding up his hand. Mydell is confident that Adam's secret is safe.
Until someone breaks into his office and steals his secret journal.
When the news of Adam's true nature threatens to come out, Mydell takes
things into his own hands to save the boy he's come to love as his own.
Lots of questions, few answers
Based on the novel Toys of Glass by Martin Booth, Evolution's
Child asks the question: What if science created a hybrid of prehistoric
and modern man? Unfortunately, this listless telefilm comes up with little
of interest once it moves beyond its tantalizing premise.
Rather, the movie seems designed more to tug hearts and jerk tears
using the central relationship between Olin's womanizing Mydell and the
pint-sized savant Adam, who acts like a cross between Dr. Dolittle and the
Dalai Lama.
The rest of the movie is riddled with implausible situations and events
that are
manufactured to result in Adam's creation, then to necessitate his ultimate
journey. And though the movie is handsomely produced and competently acted,
it is on balance overly somber, bloodless and devoid of passion.
It's all the more disappointing because the audience is teased at the
beginning about what to expect from the unearthly combination of caveman
DNA and that of the MTV generation. Will he have hair all over? Will he be
able to make a flint knife out of a Cuisinart?
Sadly, no. Adam can call fish, predict rain and cure headaches with a
touch. But viewers gain little insight into anything resembling real science or even informed speculation.
As for the story's sketchy plot, the audience can guess almost from the
beginning where things will end up. The rest is a matter of totting up the
questions left unanswered. What's a drug company scientist doing on an
alpine glacier? Why does Lider send Mydell the Bronze Age guy's sperm
anyway? Why does Mydell handle it with such a cavalier attitude, resulting
in the big error? Why does a burglar break into Mydell's office? Why doesn't Mydell have
any money, but can still afford to drive a Porsche and a BMW? Why do the
Cordells seem so unconcerned when it comes to their son? And on and on
and on.
