by Jacob Kinman, Contributing Writer
If you had told me there was a movie coming out about a young child who comes across a world of magical creatures, led by an older companion, featuring an eccentric monster character named Blue, I would have said, “I can’t believe they’re rebooting Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends!“
Sadly, we got IF instead.
IF is the latest film from John Krasinski, best known for playing Jim Halpert on The Office and directing the first two films in his Quiet Place franchise. This latest film centers around a 12-year-old girl, Bea (Cailey Fleming), who has lost her mother to cancer, and now faces another challenge with the impending heart surgery of her father (Krasinski). While living with her grandmother (Fiona Shaw), Bea discovers a world of imaginary friends that are only visible to those who believe in them, primarily Blue (Steve Carell), a large, goofy purple monster, and Blossom (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), a human-butterfly hybrid, as well as a man, Cal (Ryan Reynolds), who is trying to help find new children for the creatures. IF has one of the most star-studded voice casts ever: 20-plus A-list celebrities appear as the imaginary friends, or “IFs” as they are referred to in the movie. I won’t list them all here, but if you try to think of all the celebrities Krasinski is friends with, worked with, or married to, you can probably come up with a few.
I wanted to like this movie. It was one where I saw the trailer and thought to myself, “This will either be great or terrible.” In reality, it’s neither of these things, and I’m still left a bit dissatisfied. It seemed like one of those movies that was going to have cringeworthy CGI for the characters, but they actually don’t look terrible. IF does a really good job of sending its message that we all have imaginations and childhood memories that connect us to the past, and to ourselves, and there are a few genuinely touching moments which play to this theme. The score by Michael Giacchino is well-crafted as well, and does a lot of heavy lifting for the more emotional scenes. But, when the movie ends, I’m left wondering why I should actually care about any of these characters.
A lot of the conflict in this movie feels half-baked. For starters, Bea’s dad doesn’t even have a name, and the circumstances of his illness are so vague. It’s never revealed what he has or why he’s having heart surgery, and for some reason he’s allowed to just hang around his hospital room in street clothes. If this surgery is so serious that they have to travel from, well, no one told us where, to New York, for it to occur, why is Bea’s dad wearing sweaters and dancing with his IV? We hardly ever hear about Bea’s mom again; she’s mentioned in passing when Bea first visits her dad, but she’s barely even used as much motivation for Bea to help Cal and the IFs. The IFs themselves are charming, and the voice cast does a good job bringing them to life, most notably Carell, but the movie ends up being so sappy that you almost feel sticky walking away from it. Yes, it’s sweet that Bea finds her innocence again and sets forth to help other adults see their IFs, despite her challenges and desire to grow up, but there’s just not enough plot or substance around it to really land with any impact.
Another big question I’m left with, and I’ve read many other critics ask, is who is this movie even for? It’s too cheesy for adults and teens, yet too dark at times for young children. If you can buy into the story, which is hard because we’re not given a lot to work with, then you’re left shrugging at the characters and emotional beats. If you’re entranced by all the fun and colorful characters, it bounces back as hollow because the depth, or lack thereof, of the story isn’t apparent to anyone who is only there to make new IF pals of their own.
IF could have been a lot better than it turned out to be. It had a lot of potential, and really just falls flat with a bad script and poor direction. If it were more like its predecessor that I wished this movie would have been, the aforementioned Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, the lore and plot of this world would have been so much more interesting and accessible.
I’d like to think we’ll get a movie like that one day, but maybe I’m just imagining things.
Rating: It Was Just Okay
IF is currently playing in theaters
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Agree strongly