IF - Review

Rating: 4 out of 5

JOHN Krasinski's IF is a warm-hearted, well-meaning family movie that aims for Pixar levels of ingenuity and imagination. 

Yet while consistently enjoyable and tapping into some big themes, it struggles to scale the heights of, say, Toy Story or Inside Out (to which it owes a lot of its inspiration).

That's not to say IF isn't without merit. Taken on its own terms, it's a quietly affecting live-action variation on those aforementioned movies that dares to think big and tackle issues that are certainly relevant (perhaps more so than ever before). But it only occasionally comes alive in a mind-blowing, awe-inspiring kind of way - and that's despite the presence of one of the best casts in a long time.

The film follows a 12-year-old girl named Bea (Cailey Fleming), whose childhood has been marked by the loss of her mother to cancer years earlier. When her father (played by Krasinski) requires surgery of his own, Bea is overcome with anxiety that she may be about to lose her dad too.

While staying with her grandmother (Fiona Shaw) in New York, however, she begins to encounter the strange inhabitants of an upstairs apartment, led by an amiable man named Cal (Ryan Reynolds), who explains that he is the sort of caretaker for a group of imaginary friends (the IFs of the title), who have long since been forgotten about by their former child creators.

With Bea's help, Cal and the IFs set about finding new matches for the IFs, which in turn begins to unlock Bea's own imagination and allow her to tap back into a childhood she had long since neglected.

Krasinki's film takes a while to get going, relying on mystery building rather than cracking on with the IFs and the type of worlds and adventures they can unlock. But once Bea and her new friends visit a Coney Island-based retirement home for IFs, the film finds itself on surer footing and starts to really unleash its invention.

A prolonged sequence in which Cal introduces various characters while slipping in and out of various environments, such as a painting or a swimming pool, really does rate among the film's finest and comes closest to tapping into the ingenuity and invention of a Pixar classic.

While a third act that explains the emotional complexity at play also draws favourable comparisons with the intensity and intellect of Pixar creations such as the closing minutes of Toy Story 3, or the opening moments of Up. Krasinski, to his credit, refuses to treat his audience lightly and thereby examines notions of childhood, being forced to grow up too soon, loneliness, abandonment and mortality. His themes are highly resonant to a society that insists on forcing kids to mature too quickly... and a world that poses too many threats to joy and being different (states that can really unleash the power of someone's imagination).

In that regard, IF has plenty to celebrate. And in so doing, it delivers some really nice performances, most notably from Fleming, whose mature, under-stated lead turn is both heart-warming and heart-breaking. She's not too cute, not too broken and just the right amount of plucky - bringing an everyday quality that feels easy to relate to and root for.

Reynolds, too, deserves a lot of credit for exercising more restraint than he has of late, reigning in the more 'Reynolds' style humour he has become synonymous with, in favour of a somewhat melancholy performance that hints at his character's own desire to be remembered and rediscovered. He's funny without over-milking it, yet sincere enough to earn his likeability.

The film's voice cast also shines - even if the sheer volume of famour performers sometimes becomes distracting in trying to guess who everyone is.

But Steve Carell is warm, cuddly and suitably goofy as the voice of the film's biggest character, Blue, while Phoebe Waller-Bridge is disarming as Blossom, a Betty Boop-inspired dancer, and Louis Gossett Jr brings wisdom and grace to Lewis, the head of the retirement home community who imparts a lot of the film's IF wisdom.

Listen out, too, for the likes of George Clooney, Richard Jenkins, Sam Rockwell and Christopher Meloni all making their mark as various IFs (some of whom could undoubtedly use some lengthier screen-time). A running gag involving an invisible character named Keith also gives rise to a delightful Brad Pitt reveal (during the end credits) that trades on a joke first began in Reynolds' own Deadpool II.

So, while undoubtedly a kids' film at heart, which exists to celebrate being a kid, IF also plays to older audiences with some of its jokes and references.

Overall, it's a nice film for the entire family to enjoy. And while it ultimately falls short of the five-star status it so clearly aspires to, it still has a lot to recommend it: from the timeliness of its central message to the quality of its many performances.