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A Story You Have to Believe to See: "IF"
May 31, 2024
By Bessy ADUT
I am back with a movie that can be enjoyed by children and adults the same. It is a movie that have live action and animation as a hybrid of emotions of darkness and light. The film was written, produced, and directed by John Krasinski. Many friends were interested to see it when they heard Ryan Reynolds's name.
The movie’s plot is focused on a young 12-year-old girl, Bea, and her neighbor who can see imaginary friends. From here on, spoiler alert; ideally read the rest after watching...
Bea has a very sad life story at such a young age, she already lost her mom to cancer and now her dad is at the hospital waiting for heart surgery. He tries to make light of it so she doesn’t get sad. The father reminds me of “Life is Beautiful”; how the dad there was trying to make the war seem like a game they were playing. Bea moves in with her grandmother in New York who tries really hard but she is not very good at cooking or mothering.
As Bea feels lonely she starts making imaginary friends with her new friend Cal. Cal tells her that he makes these imaginary characters and kids. Bea learns to use her imagination to redesign the facility.
Bea also develops a friendship with a real sick kid who broke several parts of his body, Benjamin. At first when Benjamin jokingly asks if she got him the flowers, Bea says they’re for her father. Next time she drops a little flower in his water glass and next time she leaves a whole bunch of flowers. It shows that their friendship grows and she cares more about it.
Bea decides to find a good Imaginary Friend (IF) for lonely Benjamin, however, no matter how many animals she auditions, none of them can be seen by him.
As she talks to Lewis in Coney Island, they think that maybe IFs need to reunite with their old friends instead of children. This part reminds me of the Barbie movie and how Barbie comes and reconnects with the mom. And a little bit tones of Toy Story as well; forgotten toys making a comeback.
Bea decides to experiment with the idea with her grandmother. When she was a young dancer she had an IF, Blossom. When grandmother reunites with her imaginary friend she starts dancing again. Bea starts feeling like she is on the right track.
There are some nice musical scenes as well, where we see all the Imaginary Characters singing and dancing together.
It reminds me of how the good old Roger Rabbit was a mix of animation and live-action interconnected nicely.
Blue’s original kid is enemy, who is a Purple monster-like big creature, we go to his adult friend who is nervous before a job presentation. However, after their initial touch and the warm crunchy smell of croissant, he gathers the courage and confidence he needs for the presentation and walks in there to nail it.
When Bea comes back from making good deeds and running away from the harsh realities, she finds out her father’s operation didn’t go so well. Bea doesn’t want to say goodbye to her father, Cal tells her then that she should tell him a story and she thanks him for that. Bea goes and tells a nice little story to her father. Bea’s mature and strong loving voice wakes her father up.
For a moment all the imaginary friends disappear, the only thing that is left is the dusty void and the loneliness. When Bea comes back home with her discharged father, she realizes that Cal has been her own imaginary friend all along. This part is a bit like Bruce Willis from 6th Sense. That is the plot twist for all of us, the audience as well.
A little time passes and we see Cal reuniting many adults with their imaginary friends. And finally, even Benjamin finds an imaginary little friend he sees and says “hi” to. We see the adults find a light and a forgotten joy coming back. Even her father, in the end, sees his imaginary friend again. And the story ends bittersweetly.
I should say all of the cast was amazing. The little girl, Cailey Fleming, really does a natural, flowing performance. John Krasinski and Ryan Reynolds as well as grandmother Fiona Shaw all are a good ensemble to watch. Voice-overs of actors, such as Steve Carell for the voice-over of Blue does a fun job. There are many other little surprise actors in voice-overs such as George Clooney, Emily Blunt, Bradley Cooper, Matt Damon, and Amy Schumer as well.
The movie already did really well at the box office thanks to the extremely talented young actress and her supporting actors as well as the animated characters. However, it received mix reviews, some critics not liking the pacing and finding it too complicated of a story. I just found it too dramatic and tragic for a young girl to be losing both of her parents at such a young age.
I think the overall message of the film is to remember our inner child and imagination to give us the strength and motivation we need. Our imaginary friends tell us we don’t have to let go of our dreams or imagination when we get older, in this life it helps us to cope better with bad things. So, I would like to end my review with a quote from Einstein “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
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