There are some movies that I admit I feel bad for disliking. They are such obvious passion projects and made with so much love that disliking them makes me feel like a bully stealing a little kids lunch rather than the film lover I am. Nevertheless, I have to be honest with my response and unfortunately I didn’t care for John Krasinski’s new original fable IF about the world of imaginary friends. I sincerely admire the swing of trying to tell an original family story and can tell it is made with love but the script needs serious work. It just doesn’t come together the way I’m sure they hoped for.
The main problem with IF is Krasinksi seems to have assumed that having magical creatures as characters would by necessity make the screenplay inherently magical but that isn’t the case. The movie really has very little charm or whimsy within the story. Most of the time spent with young Bea and the various creatures is running around New York checking up on various people. There’s no real foe for them to fight against or mission they are trying to accomplish. This screenplay screamed for some kind of ticking clock that they were fighting against that would give the story propulsion and meaning.
Also while charming as ever Ryan Reynolds is given no real story for his character but to be present and to hug Bea when she’s feeling sad. His character should have had something to do because she already had her Dad played by Krasinski (the best scenes are with him and Bea played by Cailey Fleming) and a Grandma character played by Fiona Shaw. A movie only needs so many characters to give hugs and comforting words of wisdom. Also the ending reveal for Reynolds character feels hard to believe.
The design of the imaginary friends are cute and the voice acting is all excellent but I couldn’t help but think about Lyle Lyle Crocodile from 2022 which has a similar story but was much better executed. Both movies are about a pre-teen going through a tough time that inherits a magical creature and they have adventures. The difference is Lyle had a goal of singing on Broadway and there were songs and things for the characters to do. I am sure that movie benefited from being based on a children’s book so the story had been massaged and vetted over the years before coming to the big screen.
Lyle is also a movie made with young kids in mind. IF, on the other hand, feels like it was made for adults waxing nostalgic about being a kid. For a cast with some of the funniest minds working today it’s remarkably jokeless and serious. Adults may connect with its message and themes but I don’t see kids taking much from it outside of momentary enjoyment of cute creatures. It’s not silly or fun for kids. In the end, it just doesn’t work.
4 out of 10
Frown Worthy
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