Director: John Krasinski
Starring: Cailey Fleming, Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski
A young girl who goes through a difficult experience begins to see everyone’s imaginary friends who have been left behind as their real-life friends have grown up.
Let me start off by saying how beautifully filmed this movie is. The cinematography is beautiful and the photography is crisp, clear and colourful. I could also immediately feel the emotion in the score. The visuals are impressive.
‘IF’ refers to Imaginary Friend. Most kids have imaginary friends (I don’t recall ever having one myself…), but when they grow up there is no room for imaginary friends anymore. The film explores this fact. Ryan Reynolds stars as Cal, who works for a company that places imaginary friends with new kids when the kids who ‘invented’ them grow up. Or at least, they are trying to place the imaginary friends with new kids.
12-Year old Bea (Cailey Fleming) befriends Cal while her dad is in hospital for an operation, and decides to help him. We meet many unusual characters along the way, and I think kids especially will adore this movie. Adults who once had imaginary friends will probably relate to the film in a different way. The most effective illustration of a forgotten imaginary friend, was still in the movie ‘Inside Out’ (remember Bing Bong).
There is a twist during the finale and the film’s ending was probably forcing the feel-good vibe a bit, but in general ‘IF’ was an entertaining watch. This is a good choice for a family fun movie night.
Would I watch it again? I don’t think so.
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