Emotional substance elusive in imaginative movie

The idea that when children grow up, their made-up invisible friends and discarded toys become lonely and depressed might strike you as heavy, even slightly scary.

It has, in fact, been used as the premise for the recent horror flick Imaginary. And of course, it has been explored with gentle melancholy in The Velveteen Rabbit and a sweet mix of comedy and heart in the Toy Story franchise.

In his family-friendly adventure-comedy, IF, writer-director John Krasinski seems to be going for a live-action version of that Toy Story-type Pixar magic.

He tries. He really does. And in this era of underachieving, generic kids’ entertainment that means something. But does Krasinski make it? IF only.

One of the film’s IFs (Imaginary Friends) is described as “an adorable trainwreck, but a trainwreck nonetheless.” The movie is like that — well-intentioned and good-natured but also kind of a mess, with a tangle of confused world-building and incomplete story ideas.

Bea (Cailie Fleming of The Walking Dead) is a 12-year-old girl going through a difficult time. Her father (Krasinski) is in the hospital, and she’s staying in her old room in her grandmother’s New York apartment.

The last time she was there, as a five-year-old, she lost her mother to cancer, and she’s clearly worried about losing her remaining parent. She copes by insisting she’s “not a kid anymore.”

Bea’s pain and worry have given her the ability to see other children’s left-behind imaginary friends, a crazy collection of oddball creations who are under the exasperated care of Cal (Deadpool’s Ryan Reynolds, who’s being snarky but sweet).

Steve Carell (from Krasinski’s days at The Office) is the big, goofy fuzzball Blue — he’s actually purple, but his kid was colour-blind. Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) is Blossom, a British ballerina cartoon bug.

The IFs live in a retirement home in an old amusement park on Coney Island. There’s also a cat in pyjamas, a sparkly rainbow unicorn, a shadow in a trench coat, a mouse in a top hat, a banana with legs, a superhero dog and, the oldest resident, a Depression-era teddy bear.

These characters, and more, are brought to life with CGI visuals and drop-in vocal work taken from Krasinski’s friends-and-family plan: Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Sam Rockwell, Blake Lively, George Clooney, Amy Schumer, Jon Stewart, Bradley Cooper, Keegan-Michael Key, Awkwafina, Sebastian Maniscalco, Maya Rudolph, Bill Hader.

As her grandmother (Killing Eve’s Fiona Reid) falls asleep on the couch watching Jimmy Stewart talk to his imaginary friend in Harvey, Bea tries to start a matchmaking service between these abandoned IFs and some modern kids.

She doesn’t have much luck. “Screen time is turning their brains to mush,” comments one character, an intriguing suggestion about the changing nature of childhood imagination that is thrown out there but never followed up.

Undaunted, Bea decides to reintroduce the IFs to their former children, who are now adults but are still in need of that spirit of fun and play and possibility.

This is a swell concept — hey, who doesn’t need more fun? And there are certainly moments in Krasinski’s try-everything approach to story — Tina Turner videos, musical numbers, synchronized swimming, slapstick comedy, weepy scenes.

There is winning work from the principal cast. There is warm, colourful production design from Coen brothers collaborator Jess Gonchor and beautiful cinematography from Spielberg regular Janusz Kaminski. (The light streaming through those Brooklyn brownstone windows looks absolutely amazing).

But the scripting is confounding, undeveloped and all over the place. The jokes may land, but the big emotional impacts — like a scene meant to demonstrate the depth of the father-daughter bond — just aren’t there.

This might be good news if, like me, you’re still recovering from the tear-soaked ending of Toy Story 3. But it means this amiable, well-meaning movie never fulfils its considerable potential.

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