★★
There’s nothing wrong with a children’s film striving to appeal to all generations. A hit on target can be pure magic. Pixar has achieved just that with every film in its heyday and it’s a sweet spot for the first two. Paddington illustrated films. But miss, and you might end up with a movie like IF. That is to say, an average effort, neither fun enough for the kids nor interesting enough for mom and dad. This is the new feature film by John Krasinski, which is aimed at young people for the first time after having touched horror. A silent place. Krasinski has a natural penchant for conceptual cinema, but here his efforts seem strained, the thrust of pathos too obvious and artificial. It’s like looking at an adult’s distant childhood memory, repurposed through the tired prism of parental experience. The imagination is there, but it’s just not the wild, no-holds-barred kind that kids really enjoy.
For example, look only at the aperture. Following the tradition, IF is prologued by a home video montage, flashbacks to the carefree past of a young family. It’s a warning sign for upcoming trauma, but hampered by a shooting tone more in tune with life insurance advertising than family fun. Among a host of better examples, the sequence compares unfavorably to the zany and witty opening of The Muppets or the devastating sequence that opened Up. IF shares the latter’s composer, in Michael Giacchino, but you wouldn’t think so.
The sequence takes us to a present day in which 12-year-old Bea (The Walking Dead’s Cailey Fleming) has only one parent, having lost her mother to cancer. When her father, played in ultra-silly mode by Krasinski himself, is hospitalized for an unspecified major operation, Bea moves in with her Brooklyn Heights-based grandmother (a wobbly-accented Fiona Shaw). Once again, the territory and setup are painfully familiar.
Grief is an important theme for any film and this is an admirable storyline that incorporates anxiety into the mix. Bea’s superficial calm – “I’m not a child” – does little to disguise the panic she’s generated at the thought of losing her father too. This is where FIs come in, an FI being a person’s childhood imaginary friend. Krasinski peddles the concept a little too loudly – a little too convinced of its genius, perhaps – but it’s not difficult to understand. IFs arise from a child’s vibrant imagination and can be any shape, size or form. When the child grows out of their FI and no longer needs them, they lose the ability to see them. God forbid that the child forgets all his old IF. It’s clear that Bea, in the depths of her crisis, would need an imaginary friend – both to keep her safe and to remind her that, yes, she is still a child.
In graphic design, the IFs form a fairly large group. Nothing fancy – not a patch on anything a real kid could come up with – but as visually appealing as necessary. A giant, fluffy purple monster, reminiscent of Sully in Monsters Inc., steals most of the scenes, while other IFs include a porcelain doll with butterfly wings, an astronaut, a unicorn, a talking marshmallow, and a glass of water. Each is voiced by a star from Krasinski’s phone book. George Clooney, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Bradley Cooper, Matt Damon, Awkwafina… it’s an impressive call. As for Blue, the misnamed purple lint bucket, Krasinski donned his old Desk co-star, Steve Carell.
At the top of the circus is Ryan Reynolds’ Cal, Bea’s kindly grumpy neighbor, ringmaster of the IFs and the only adult in the room capable of seeing them. It’s an easy win for Reynolds, even if it never really challenges him to move beyond gentle charm. Indeed, nothing here does. The FIs live in a retirement home under a dilapidated Coney Island carousel, not exactly pure imagination. There’s a bouncy musical number halfway through, which goes some way to reinvigorating a slow first half, but little else in the way of razzmatazz. IF is thoughtful, misty-eyed and nostalgic. It’s also a bit boring.
It remains to be seen whether the film will resonate with young audiences. This seems unlikely. Children don’t need to be loud and brash to hold their attention, but wonder is necessary and a feeling that the story has their best interests in mind. And with its retro idealism: Do iPad-using young people even have time for imaginary friends these days? – and a seductive sentimentality, IF may very well tug at parents’ hearts, but only if they don’t get too distracted trying to entertain the intended audience. If only.
T.S.