IF Review: A Decent Kids Movie!

IF is written and directed by John Krasinski, starring Cailey Fleming, Ryan Reynolds, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Steve Carell, and Fiona Shaw. 12 year old Bea is going through a rough time having recently lost her mom and now her dad will be getting an operation. As she finds herself dower she comes across a group of misplaced imaginary friends or IFs. She decides with the help of Cal that they will find a home for all the IFs.

I genuinely enjoyed this movie when I thought I would walk out of it hating it. I do have to say this is a movie of two halves for me. IF suffers from creating a cohesive plot which leads to poor pacing throughout the first half. In short there is an identity crisis that the movie feels like it’s trying to grab the heart of Pixar but mix it with some of the sillier notions of a traditional kids movie, which doesn’t work, until the second half. Once we really get into finding matches for all the IFs it becomes extremely cute and endearing.

Ryan Reynolds still has some of his trademark snark but it’s significant toned down getting to play more of a straight man and Fleming did admirably well. I would have loved to see more of the other IFs because Blue (the main one) wasn’t that interesting. All in all, IF, directed by John Krasinski, is a fine kids movie that has enough there for the adults in the audience too.

‘IF’ Rating – 2.75/5

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