Did you have an Imaginary Friend when you were little? I did not. The house I grew up in was crowded enough without needing to make room for fictional people as well. IF tells us that our Imaginary Friends never left us; they’re still out there waiting for a reason to be. Is it sad? A little, TBH, but it really wants to be uplifting. After all … isn’t that why you make a family film in the first place?
12-year-old Bea (Cailey Fleming) is already down one parent. We lose mom in the opening montage. Don’t ask for grieving; this ain’t that film; this is family fun! Like when dad (writer/director John Krasinski) goes into the hospital for heart surgery and Bea is left to her grandmother (Fiona Shaw). Luckily, surrogate parent Fiona Shaw doesn’t shove Bea into the cupboard beneath the staircase; that’s a different family film.
So Bea is just mindin’ her own business when she spots some weird cartoon Betty Boop wannabe hanging out in her real life ‘hood. Turns out, Blossom (voice of Phoebe Waller-Bridge) lives in her building, 
so next chance, Bea follows Blossom accompanied by a human (Ryan Reynolds) as they cross town for some light b&e and the retrieval of the Grimace-like Blue (Steve Carrell), a furry purple reject from Monsters, Inc. Blue has been unsuccessful in its attempt to (re-) latch onto a child.
Before long, the film explores the mythology of IFs, Imaginary Friends. Cal (Reynolds), who just happens to be Bea’s new neighbor, acts as liaison between the real and imaginary worlds. Perpetually frustrated and overtly cynical, Cal reluctantly employs Bea to help him place untethered Imaginary Friends. (i.e. IFs who used to belong to a human, but the human grew up). This becomes the basic plot of the movie … Bea acting as an IF placement service.
One of the problems here is that IFs aren’t easily placed for the simple reason that they haven’t been imagined by a surrogate; they can only truly belong to the adult of the child who dreamed them up in the first place. Hence, Bea and Cal go in search of adults, not children, which is an odd strategy for a family film.
Did I mention this was a family film? OH BOY, is it a family film. We can tell from the complete lack of grief to the Patch Adams-like behavior of Krasinski himself that IF was far more in
terested in being a genre movie more than a good film. Don’t get me wrong; I warmed up to IF, eventually enjoying it. But before that happened lies a sea of delightful and irrelevant cartoonish crap.
I think one of the points this film is trying to make is that Imaginary Friends aren’t interchangeable. They cannot be bartered or traded on the open market. It kinda also means that once you die, your Imaginary Friend dies too, which is pretty sad thought for what desperately wants to be your favorite family film ever. I have no doubt ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT WHATSOEVER that some families will champion IF well beyond the desert planet of Arrakis. Just know mine will not be among them.
There was once a sad girl named Bea
Who was abducted most delightfully
They gave her a job
Of pairing their mob
Turns out, the most in need was she
Rated PG, 104 Minutes
Director: John Krasinski
Writer: John Krasinski
Genre: Pushing the “family film” envelope like few films ever before it
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Do you like family films?
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Do you loathe films which ignore genuine crises while indulging in fantastical ones?
