IF (Review)
Writer/Director John Krasinski continues to expand his work, taking us from a world of noise-sensitive monsters to a world of imaginary friends. I love this concept. Does the film explore it enough to make it a fun time for families though? Let's discuss.
After discovering she can see everyone's imaginary friends (shortened to “IF’s” in the movie), Bea (Cailey Fleming) embarks on a magical adventure to reconnect forgotten IFs with their old friends who have grown up and forgotten about them. Fleming is good in the movie with what she is given. She has the typical tragic backstory you see in a lot of classic Disney/Pixar stuff, but gets more to chew on throughout. Some of her dialogue does unfortunately come off a little dry and her delivery can be a bit monotone at times but overall, she's stellar.
The remainder of the A-list cast though is not able to save this script, which lacks one crucial elemen: depth. The other characters who join Bea on her journeyhave no background to be explored. Ryan Reynolds is fun but more subtle here as Cal, but fans of him will be happy to know he still gets to have his classic Reynolds delivery. The other main character is Blue, the main IF (voiced by the always reliable Steve Carell). Blue is fun, a cute fuzzy friend that just wants to be loved. But other than that that’s all we really get about him.
The film looks great and that is one of Krasinski's strengths as a director. He definitely knows how to make a good looking film. He’s just unfortunately also given us his weakest script of his young career, something I take no joy in saying because I wanted to go into this film and walk out loving it. The concept is really a stellar one. But we have seen previous films that provide a similar concept but have been a lot more effective.
Thankfully, the third act of the film really saves it. Krasinski and company manage to get the theme across of keeping your inner child alive, even when growing up gets in the way of that very often. For the kids, they should hopefully walk away understanding the importnace of being a kid and not growing up faster than they need to.
In the end, IF is a good time, just not a great time. The film has some heart felt moments that is sure to pull on some heartstrings and contains some imaginative visuals. John Krasinski has a large imagination and that is showcased beautifully here but unfortunately the lack of depth on our characters struggles to bring out the film's best.
