IF Review

Boy howdy this trailer was baaaaaaaaaad. I was intrigued by the teaser, but I thought that it would only be good if the teaser was hiding something. Then the actual trailer came out, and well, you read the first sentence. I dunno, it just looked like Ryan Reynolds doing his most child-friendly jokes and that was it. Which, I guess if it carries the Deadpool movies, but I expect more from the guy who wrote A Quiet Place, y'know. (Wait, John Krasinski wrote A Quiet Place Part II too? Well good thing I didn't see it and therefore can't delegitimize my claim to his writing quality.) 

Then Twitter got mad at this movie. Why? Hell if I know. I can barely stand to use this website, honestly, why would I ever go on that garbage fire of social media platform. Does it have something to do with the premise's similarity to Foster's Home For Imaginary Kids? Maybe, but why is it a problem for two takes on a similar premise to exist? Batman and the Dark Knight have the exact same plot structure and people love jerking those to movies off. 

What's The Movie About?

Bea is a 12-year-old girl who becomes a social worker for Imaginary Friends (or IFs hurhurhur) and she teams up with a cynical Ryan Reynolds named Calvin.

What I Like.

Bea. She's a really good character, clearly John wrote this movie with the intention of her being the completely focal character. (He writes really good female characters, as all who saw A Quiet Place can attest.) The trailer made it seems like a stern female who has to be the support/babysitter for a silly guy (Calvin, in this case), but really it's the opposite. Calvin is a cynical and sarcastic character who is only helping everyone else out because he HAS to, and it's up to Bea to show him why helping out the IFs is a fulfilling life. I also really like the message of the movie, but it's kind of a spoiler. Just know if you are perpetually young at heart (or if you're incredibly childish like me) it's going to cut you completely to your core with warm fuzzies. I also got invested in the IFs. Again, I wasn't really interested from the trailer since it didn't seem imaginative enough for me. Like, oh, the imaginary friends are basically a bunch of anthropomorphic things. A gummy bear, a stiffed animal, the guy from the Neighborhood Watch sign. But they give the character little hints of deeper personalities, even if they are on screen for a few seconds. 

What I Didn't Like.

...I don't know if I should bring up the problems with this movie. Not because there isn't problems, or even that they aren't substantial. Because there are certainly substantial problems with this movie. This movie completely falls apart if you think about the it for even a second. But it's nothing a kid is going to notice. Or if they did notice, they wouldn't care. The age demographic for this movie isn't going to care that the stakes of this movie are basically non-existent. They aren't going to give a crap there is a twist that comes out of nowhere, or that the rules on how the IFs work make no sense. They're just going to laugh and silly purple monster and be happy when he finds a friend. And is there anything wrong with that?

Final Summation.

IF is a good kids' movie. There is a lot of bright colors, silly characters, and goofy humor that they are sure to get a kick out of. There is nothing for the parents in the audience, true, but I don't think there needs to be. If you are over the age of 15 and are going to see this movie alone, you shouldn't get pissy when none of your perceptions are challenged. And if you're mad about the movie not making sense, you need to remind yourself that one of the main characters in the movie is a giant furry purple creature called Blue. It's not that serious.