I'd call myself an Eddie Murphy fan, I've lost count of the number of times I have had to convince sceptics that he once ruled the cinema world back in the 1980s. There are those who seem to have a poisonous agenda about the man and his work post 1990. Yep, there's a lot of rubbish there on his CV, but quite often it's harmless rubbish with some value to the easy going film fan, in fact the number of outright offencive stinkers are surprisingly low in his 30 year career (Norbit, good grief!).
Which brings us to Imagine That, a genuinely sweet film that is devoid of blunderbuss effects and plays out via good human interactions. True, it's fanciful fluff that ends up as you'd expect, while a splendid cast featuring Thomas Haden Church, Ronny Cox and Martin Sheen are going through the motions and earning an easy dollar. But it never once gets tired and Murphy gets on occasion to show his comedic chops.
Some of the more adult threads involving corporate politics will go over the heads of the kids, and likewise the father/daughter imaginary friends angle only resonates with those of a similar persuasion, but the film is trying to cover all bases. Clearly it doesn't all work, otherwise the picture would be better thought of, yet a decent family time filler it rounds out to be. I wouldn't advocate spending money to rent it, mind, but there are worse things in cinema life than watching this with a child you hold dear. 6/10
Which brings us to Imagine That, a genuinely sweet film that is devoid of blunderbuss effects and plays out via good human interactions. True, it's fanciful fluff that ends up as you'd expect, while a splendid cast featuring Thomas Haden Church, Ronny Cox and Martin Sheen are going through the motions and earning an easy dollar. But it never once gets tired and Murphy gets on occasion to show his comedic chops.
Some of the more adult threads involving corporate politics will go over the heads of the kids, and likewise the father/daughter imaginary friends angle only resonates with those of a similar persuasion, but the film is trying to cover all bases. Clearly it doesn't all work, otherwise the picture would be better thought of, yet a decent family time filler it rounds out to be. I wouldn't advocate spending money to rent it, mind, but there are worse things in cinema life than watching this with a child you hold dear. 6/10