Film Review: IF is a bittersweet examination of imagination and childhood

IF.

• IF
• ★★★★☆
• Cinema release

‘Life doesn’t always have to be fun,’ 12-year-old Bea (Cailey Fleming) tells her Dad (John Krasinski) as IF (PG) begins, but you can understand why Dad wants to keep things light: Bea has already lost her mother to cancer, and now her father is facing major surgery.

It’s a downbeat opening to what becomes a charming tale: once Bea goes to stay with her grandmother (Fiona Shaw), she meets Cal (Ryan Reynolds), who lives upstairs and works at rehabilitating those IFs (imaginary friends) whose children have outgrown them. 

Cal’s apartment is thronged with IFs, among them the purple monster Blue (voiced by Steve Carell), the doll Blossom (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), and Unicorn (Emily Blunt) — can Bea find an imaginary friend to help her through these darkest of days?

John Krasinski writes and directs this whimsical blend of live action and animation, which is a bittersweet celebration of fantasy, imagination, and the possibilities of childhood, and while it’s clearly aimed at a younger audience, it will likely strike a chord with older viewers too. 

Ryan Reynolds doesn’t exactly stretch himself as he grumbles and bickers his way through proceedings as the put-upon Cal — to be fair, placing all those abandoned IFs with new kids is a thankless task — but he strikes up a lovely relationship with the young Cailey Fleming, who is suitably wide-eyed when she encounters all the imaginary creatures, even as she protests that she has left all that childish behaviour behind.