Worth: $9.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
DeWanda Wise, Tom Payne, Taegen Burns, Pyper Braun, Dane DiLiegro, Betty Buckley
Intro:
Maybe if your tweens are having a sleepover this could keep them quiet, but everyone else will likely want to close their eyes and imagine they’re watching a better movie.
Kids, it has to be said, are bloody weird. As soon as they gain the ability to walk and talk, they start making up all manner of bullshit, using their overcharged imaginations and blurting out the sort of nonsense that would have adults put in a quiet room with padded walls.
The thing is, to the kid in question, those imaginary people and scenarios are completely real, which is both fascinating and unsettling. Imaginary friends are nothing new in cinema, The Shining, Drop Dead Fred and JoJo Rabbit (plus many others) have all used them for various purposes, but Imaginary – the latest from Blumhouse and director Jeff Wadlow – puts the faux pal in the villain seat to middling levels of success.
Imaginary tells the story of Jessica (DeWanda Wise), who is moving back into her childhood home with her partner Max (The Walking Dead’s Tom Payne), and stepdaughters Taylor (Taegen Burns) and Alice (Pyper Braun). Once there, Alice begins to form a friendship with Jessica’s childhood toy, Chauncey Bear (Dane DiLiegro), and it soon becomes clear that something sinister lurks behind those shiny, black doll’s eyes…
The thing about Imaginary is that its premise is actually solid. There’s an endless supply of potential creepiness mining the fevered imaginations of children and skewing the film to a younger audience is a savvy business move. The problem, however, is that the film – given to us from the deadset dreamweaver who also helmed Truth or Dare and Fantasy Island – is almost completely devoid of inspiration. Oh, there are a couple of neat twists and some of the practical creature effects in the third act are fun, but it’s such a slog of a movie that would have benefited greatly from losing 15-20 minutes of unnecessary footage, such as a bizarre sequence involving Taylor and a spunky neighbour boy that goes literally nowhere and never comes up again.
Performances are also pretty ordinary, with the adult cast struggling with the leaden, on-the-nose dialogue. Pyper Braun does buck the trend, however, and manages to be a charming screen presence, which is good because a lot of the light horror revolves around her. Sadly, despite some bright moments, Imaginary just doesn’t do enough with its promising premise to make it worth the effort. Maybe if your tweens are having a sleepover this could keep them quiet, but everyone else will likely want to close their eyes and imagine they’re watching a better movie.
