Review: IF

IF is about a girl who discovers a world of Imaginary Friends of children who've outgrown them. Can she find them new homes, and can they get her through some personal traumas? Starring Ryan Reynolds, Cailey Fleming and a host of celebrity voice talent as the Ifs. Directed by John Krasinski (A quiet place).The new family comedy IF - it stands for "Imaginary Friend", by the way, nothing to do with Lindsay Anderson's riotous 60s public school satire - is advertised as coming "from the mind of John Krasinski", which may be a bit premature.Krasinski is a likable actor - notably in the American version of The Office - and director - the sci-fi thriller series A Quiet Place with his wife Emily Blunt. But that doesn't make him a genius auteur quite yet.IF attempts that deceptively tricky task - a kids story with something for the whole family. This is the land of The Wizard of Oz and Roald Dahl, of Pixar animation and early Walt Disney. It opens on a 12-year-old girl called Bee, who's having a bad time.Bee's mother has recently died. Her father is in hospital waiting for serious surgery. She's staying with her worried grandma in a spooky old house.... Wait, I thought this was going to be sunny escapism featuring cute, wacky cartoon characters?Clearly the publicity department of IF had the same concerns, since most of the trailers brush all this stuff under the carpet in favour of wild and crazy Ryan Reynolds.He plays Cal, a sort of middle-man between our heroine Bee and the wonderful world of Imaginary Friends. IFs like Blue, who's actually purple.Bee is uniquely able to see all these displaced IFs - the imaginary friends of children who've outgrown them, and who now have nowhere to go.There's some irony in this, since there's a strong suspicion this is the case with the story of IF too, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.Initially, the plot commutes between Bee's visits to the hospital and her lovable dad - played by Krasinski himself - and her life in the fantasy world of IFs. But the IFs eventually start taking over.This despite the fact that IF is a little unclear what to do with a bunch of out-of-work fantasy characters. Do you assign them to new kids, or do you find the child within their former owners?Still, it can't be denied they're an overpowering mob. The voice-cast list alone is astonishing, reflecting the fact that voice-over work on a big-budget animation film is a pretty easy gig. Remember Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? …Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details