IF follows the story of Bea (Cailey Fleming), a 12-year-old girl who can see IFs (Imaginary Friends) and embarks on a journey with Cal (Ryan Reynolds) to give the beloved monsters a second chance to reconnect with their former children who can no longer see them. The film directed by John Krasinski, who directed the other two films of ‘A Quiet Place,’ tells a story with an extremely magical message that will enchant both children and adults, in addition to being a visual and auditory spectacle with extremely charismatic characters.
IF is that movie you can appreciate regardless of your age: it’s about the vision of that child who thinks growing up fast is a good thing and wants to skip stages, or for the relatives who say how this part of her life cannot be skipped for the little ones and that the presence of parents is too important in this part of life. Still speaking about the story of the film, Krasinski manages to deliver what he wants to convey to everyone watching, whether with the script itself or the way he films the feature, the whole movie evokes a feeling of innocence and surrealism and makes them present all the time, managing to create scenes that leave you extremely emotional and enchanted. This film takes you on a nostalgic journey with Bea that makes you feel like a child again.
And speaking of our dear Imaginary Friends, I can easily say that this is one of the highest points of the film. The idea of being something that comes from the imagination opens many doors for the most diverse types of ways to be displayed on screen, and they couldn’t have hit the mark more. The IFs range from a simple glass of ice because the child who imagined it just wanted to drink cold water in the Arizona desert, to a dragon from a child who wanted to live in a medieval world. This way it’s done really says a lot about how the child’s mind can work in the most diverse ways and how creative they are, besides, of course, the personalities of the creatures, which make you identify with any of them there, liking some more than others, as was my case, and the special effects that mix them into real life with this more cartoonish style were done spectacularly and well done, they seem to have been taken directly from the head and put to act. Being extremely expressive and fun, it’s no exaggeration to say that this film has one of the best CGIs ever put into practice in cinema.
John Krasinski’s direction in the film, as mentioned before, was done to convey this sense of naivety in a competent way. In this film, he made the viewers feel as if they were snuggling up to a fireplace, as the film is quite comfortable even by its nature, but it’s not something you see and think is really splendid, but just good in a way that manages to deliver what it proposes. It’s not bad, but it’s also not spectacular. The film manages to convey what it wants to say very well in other ways besides how it is filmed, such as with the IFs with their charisma and the performances.
And still about the performances, they are efficient and manage to deliver well what they want to convey. Ryan Reynolds was cast in a type of character he doesn’t usually do, the cliché grumpy adult who doesn’t interact properly with anyone and is always angry, but he manages to play the role with a certain ease and even if he’s not in his comfort zone, his charisma makes him fit well in the film. Moving on to another main character, Cailey Fleming also manages to do her job well, at the beginning she even seems to be a character you won’t connect with and will just stay that way, but the way she evolves during the film makes her deliver more, especially towards the final part of the film, where both protagonists show very well what they came for. Krasinski doesn’t appear much in the film, but whenever he does, he steals the screen with his fatherly charm who just wants to see his daughter happy. I think it’s worth mentioning that, even though they are not men or women, the IFs here seem to be, for all their expressiveness within the film, they present themselves very well and are even better than many humans that appear in the film.
The soundtrack is so splendid in this film that it’s impossible not to want to keep talking about it for a long time. The work they did here made me feel nostalgic every time those songs played, with it being present all the time, they didn’t want to give rest to stop listening to these melodies that are always playing, which is far from being bad, actually giving the opposite effect, it’s something that brings you happiness and makes you smile every time it manifests during the feature.
However, the film may have something that in my view was a bit frustrating, which are the dialogues. When the film doesn’t want to focus on the drama part but on the parts of the IFs interacting with each other and with humans, Krasinski didn’t manage to regulate well how childish it could be, with some parts being done in an exaggerated way that end up sounding just a bit stupid, and not naive. The Imaginary Friend Blue ends up being the perfect example of this kind of thing that happens, and some interactions with Ryan just seem cringe and not silly. It’s something that really won’t bother children, since they are the target audience for this type of interaction, but it might bother anyone over 12 years old.
About these interactions, the director and screenwriter manages to make them work very well when he goes to the more serious part of the film, like at the beginning of the film when Bea’s mother dies. That scene carries a lot of weight and was done very well, as well as in the 3rd act of the film, where he manages to make these dialogues be delivered in a serious and mature way for any audience. The humor is the famous hit or miss, sometimes it works very well and manages to make everyone laugh, as well as there are times when it doesn’t manage to get a laugh from a single person.
In the end, IF is a lovely, captivating and very sweet film that will bring you back to your childhood. Packed with some impressive CGI work and an extremely great and present soundtrack. John Krasinski delivers a beautiful story that will inspire both young and older audiences. Even with some jokes that might not work, this film ends up as a great summer blockbuster.
IF releases in theaters on May 17.
