Imagine That (2009) Hollywood Children’s Comedy Movie Review
‘Imagine That’ the recent drama with Eddie Murphy has received a very mixed reaction from the critics and audience. Some say it is great, some don’t. For a film like ‘Imagine That‘ it is more up to the person who is watching it ad their taste of comedy and drama that decides the performance of film. Eddie Murphy is great mostly, except for a few overreacting comic scenes. The film reminded me of another film that I watched a few months back, ‘Bedtime Stories’, which has some fantasy factor in it. But ‘Imagine That’ has a bit more imaginary situations in the film that I thoroughly enjoyed. If you like to imagine things, you may enjoy ‘Imagine That’.Pre Order the Imagine That DVD today
Imagine That (2009) DVD Release
Imagine That (2009) Movie Details Genres: Comedy, Kids/Family and Science Fiction/Fantasy Running Time: 1 hr. 47 min. Release Date: June 12th, 2009 (wide) MPAA Rating: PG for some mild language and brief questionable behavior. Distributors: Paramount Pictures Starring: Eddie Murphy, Thomas Haden Church, Nicole Ari Parker, Ronny Cox, Martin Sheen Directed by: Karey Kirkpatrick Produced by: Ric Kidney, Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, Ed Solomon
Storyline of Imagine That (2009) and Critic’s Review ‘Imagine That’ may be called a fairy tale of the modern times where a little girl named Olivia (Yara Shahidi) (can be thought as a princess in her own ways) visits a wonderland with her loving father Evan Danielson. Eddie Murphy plays the role of her father, a divorced man who has to take care of her little girl, no matter how busy he gets and how much workload he got laid on his shoulders. And he does a pretty good at that, in spite of a few little odds that take place. He cannot make perfect pancakes, or overlooks that the milk in the fridge has turned sour, but he is always a very cute loving father to her precious princess.
Olivia is just too obsessed with her little purple blanket. She does not leave it for a single moment, not only in her sleep, or at the breakfast table, even at school she clings to it and listens to what her magical blanket advises her. For her it is not a mere blanket, it is her magic wand which is almost a living entity. And then one night life starts getting way too magical suddenly with this blankie for Evan and Olivia.
One night when Evan, a financial executive by profession, has to work late and talks to his peer over the phone about some business deals, his daughter comes to him and says that her imaginary friends, the three princesses of some adventureland – Mopitta, Flopitta, and Qualli advises him not to do certain business deals. As any normal father, he rebukes his daughter and sends her to bed. The next morning right before the important meeting he discovers that his daughter has painted all over his important papers because her three imaginary friends has told her that it would be all right to do so, since his father will not need these papers any more. To his utter disgust Evan goes to attend the meeting and ends up with a big joke – explaining to his boss and co-workers in the workplace the inner meanings of the sketches. And when he sits in his chamber prepared for an official firing from job, he is rewarded! All the insight he has shown in the meeting are the remotest secrets of the companies, and his boss (Rony Cox) is impressed!!!
So for the next few weeks, Evan rules! All he does is ask Olivia to ask the three princesses about the strategies needed to be taken. They rub the blankie in small circles around their foreheads, then bury their faces under and go to the magic land – which is their big lofty apartment where they imagine the rivers, caves, forests and sleeping ogres that they have to pass to reach the princesses. And to make the princesses happy, Evan has to sing songs and say nice things in honor of the princesses, and even after that they would not talk directly to him. They talked to their little friend Olivia, and answered all Evan’s questions. And amazing things happened! All the odd forecasts and presumption they made, turned out to be true. But by this time the Evan has become more dependent on the foreseeing of the princesses for his financial strategies. He would do anything to get the princesses talk – even dance out on the busy city streets to make them happy to speak. One thing about the princesses is that they are never wrong. And if there is a confusion between Mopitta and Flopitta regarding something, Evan and Olivia have to travel farther to talk to Qualli, who resides in a tall tower, (in the middle of the city)!
Among all this magical happenings, Eva and Olivia are having a good time together – some quality family time, where they play, cook, chat and above all enjoy being with each other. And Evan teaches Olivia how to sing in her upcoming school recital.
But Evan’s secret did not last very long. He has a big rival at work – Johny Whitefeather (Thomas Haden Church), a very competitive man with an Indian origin, who sends spies after Evan to check how he has become so extraordinarily brilliant. And all he finds out is that Evan just spends time with his daughter and and play with her with their faces buried under her blanket. The spy does not understand the essence of all this, but his appointer does – for he is a smart man with high ambitions and always talked about Indian charms and magics. He knew it was a way to communicate with the spirits of the highest level who can see the future. He goes to a charmer and buys a blanket for several thousands dollars. The charmer tells him that the kids are usually very good at communication with the spirits with their simple guiltless souls. Johny comes home and wakes his sleeping son in the middle of night and fills him up with more and more caffine, builds a big fire in his lawn and communicates with the spirits. Johny’s subordinate at this point gets pretty tired of him and quits. His wife is annoyed too and thinks it won’t be long before their neighbors call the fire department.
Again, this blankie game takes another turn-point for Evan. Olivia goes to stay with her mom for some time and takes her blanket with her. With a huge project round the corner that can bring him a big opportunity of a lifetime, Evan gets crazy. He intrudes in Olivia’s friend’s birthday party and in a sleepover to steal the blanket, but does not succeed. He is thrown out of both places. He tries to convince his friend and his ex-wife that everything happening so great at his workplace is because of the blanket, but as expected they are shocked at his behavior. Olivia is extremely hurt. She is also sad because Evan may not be able to go to her recital for which she practiced so much with her dad.
Evan gets back home with her blanket, and tries to work with the blanket lain on his shoulders, and for the first time in weeks he actually concentrates. He does not even notice, when in the middle of his work the blanket slips off - he is so engrossed in his research. The next day Evan goes to attend his meeting, but leaves before finishing his presentation. He rushes to attend Olivia’s recital, dressed up in funny costumes. Olivia was very very upset and sad, till her dad comes in. In a moment she blushes up. After the recital is over, a visitor comes to Olivia’s school to meet Evan. It is the owner of their company who comes to offer Evan a big post in his company, because he had the courage to take a powerful decision of leaving the office in the middle of a meeting when his daughter wanted him.
At this point, Olivia comes out of her infatuation for the blanket, and the princesses leave, but Evan with his daughter and ex-wife plans to spend some time together. The fairy tale continues.
A pretty story of love and bonding. The cast is good. The comedy is nice, except at a few places where Eddie Murphy’s comic gestures may seem a bit forced, since they were nothing indispensable in the movie. Director Karey Kirkpatrick has tried to cast him just not as Evan Danielson, but as ‘Eddie Murphy’ in those scenes.
‘Imagine That’ is a wonderful drama that has good story told beautifully. The cast is wonderful. Eddie Murphy is good as always, and Yara Shahidi is wonderful. She did an unbelievably good job. Thomas Haden is nice and funny and you would love Rony Cox. A film to watch with your family.
Movie Reviewed by:Shrabanti Basu, CT Reported, USA Movie Watched at: Carmike Cinema, Bluefield, WV
Amazon.com Price: View Sale Price (as of 2010-01-02 03:00:12 GMT) Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon.com at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
Imaginary friends and security blankets are common childhood fixations that parents spend a lot of time worrying about, but how many parents become more obsessed with those imaginary worlds than their children? Evan Daniels, played by the ever-hysterical Eddie Murphy, is a part-time father, full-time financial executive who has little time for his daughter Olivia (Yara Shahidi) and even less time for her imaginary friends and security blanket. When Evan's absentminded attention to Olivia's far-fetched stories, combined with her ill-timed use of some important meeting notes as arts and crafts materials causes a huge blowup between father and daughter, it also reveals an uncanny window into the financial world. Suddenly, Evan becomes fixated on his daughter's imaginary playmates and will do anything, including singing and dancing in public, in exchange for the financial insight that yields him such great professional results. While Olivia loves her new relationship with her father, her reliance on her imaginary friends deepens, causing her teachers and mother much concern, and she eventually begins to sense that her father may possibly care more for the information that he's receiving than for her. Meanwhile, Evan pits his unconventional reliance on what he dubs his "inner child" against his co-worker Whitefeather's (Thomas Haden Church) unorthodox reliance on Indian legends and the two men turn their financial firm upside down and end up competing for the coveted position of chairman of the board. In the end, Evan must make some tough choices about whether his job in the financial world is more important than his job as a father and Olivia will be forced to live with the consequences. The parenting dilemmas presented in this film are universal, and kids and parents alike will laugh uproariously at the crazy antics of Eddie Murphy and Yara Shahidi while simultaneously discovering that good parenting doesn't always look like one might expect. (Ages 6 and older with parental guidance due to mild language and brief questionable behavior) --Tami Horiuchi
Product Details
No details are available for this product
Video Reviews
No video reviews found for this product.
Customer Reviews
Surprisingly cute, even, and enjoyable
Review Date: November 18, 2009
Reviewer: J. Green, Los Angeles, California
As a teenager over 20 years ago I remember laughing long and hard at "Beverly Hills Cop" and even Eddie Murphy's generally irreverent and profane humor. But as a parent I am glad to see him using his talents in a more family friendly way, even if it usually borders on slapstick or over-the-top humor like Jim Carrey (this one didn't quite go that far). And I must admit that the commercials featuring that stupidly annoying kid throwing plastic balls at him in the playground didn't put this one on my "must-see" list. But my wife rented it one night and I was pleasantly surprised.
Murphy plays Evan Danielson, an aggressive workaholic investment consultant with no time for family - in fact, he's divorced and has no connection with his daughter, Olivia (about 6 years old, I think). But when he's forced to care for her for a week he's insensitive to her security blanket and imaginary friends... until he realizes that these friends are giving surprisingly accurate investment advice. And thus begins a relationship with his daughter that, although not initially based on the right reasons, opens his eyes to what he's missing out on.
I'm not exactly a devotee of this type of movie and haven't really seen any of Murphy's films since Disney's "The Haunted Mansion" (which was very disappointing compared to "Pirates of the Caribbean"), but my kids and I really enjoyed this one. I didn't notice any foul language and any crude jokes must have gone right over my head. Yara Shahidi was perfectly cute as his neglected daughter, and Thomas Hayden Church was particularly funny as Johnny Whitefeather, his main competition at work with phony Native American investing advice. The plot-line may be formulaic and in some ways the moral-of-the-story done a bit too Hollywood-ish, but I thought the movie was quite fun, and definitely better than I expected.
Imagine That!
Review Date: November 2, 2009
Reviewer: Jersey,
I wasn't sure if this movie was going to be corny or not being a childrens movie and all - but I was surprised at how funny it was! I loved Eddie Murphy in "Daddy Day Care" and loved him in this movie equally as much! This movie isn't appropriate for younger ages (it's rated PG) and I believe it's PG because of some adult humor - but it's nothing you wouldn't see on TV and no foul language is used! "Imagine That" has a really cute message for all ages!
FABULOUS MOVIE! WORTH YOUR MONEY! A MUST-SEE FOR ALL AGES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review Date: July 28, 2009
Reviewer: Suzanne Estrada,
I LOVED this movie! It is fantastic! Great story, great plot, great ending, great actors, great message - I LOVED IT! It was really, for me, Eddie Murphy's best movie yet! I am a big fan of Eddie Murphy and I feel this movie was fantastic! It was funny, sweet and adventerous and had many positive advantages throughout it all. The perfect family movie! Please people, do not pay ANY attention to the bad 1-star/2-star reviews! TAKE IT FROM ME! THIS MOVIE WAS FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE PERFECT FAMILY COMEDY MOVIE!
LAME!!!
Review Date: January 1, 2010
Reviewer: P. Ebdrup, Tampa, FL
This movie is one of the worst movies I have seen in a while! It was not funny and very disappointing considering Eddie Murphy is in it.....
Very cute movie
Review Date: November 30, 2009
Reviewer: A.Jennifer Murray,
I saw this movie with my husband and daughter. The movie was great but I only wish that Eddie Murphy showed more singing talent like he used too when he did the Party All the Time song back in 1985. But it was still a great movie
Imagine That
Review Date: November 20, 2009
Reviewer: Arnita D. Brown, USA
This movie was very enteraining. Eddie Murphy is a very talented actor. I hope he continues to do more movies like this one.
Eddie Murphy frequently goes as overboard as Jim Carrey or Robin Williams, but Imagine That manages to have just the right amount of silly. It's a family friendly movie that fortunately presents equal doses of immaturity and seriousness, making the event more evenly entertaining than one might expect from seeing the obnoxiously childish trailer. Performances on a whole are sincere (subdued for Murphy) and convincing; unlike similarly plotted stories like Disney's The Game Plan, Imagine That never gets to the point of annoying, which is becoming a more and more difficult feat for formulaic yet effective children's features.
Focused, driven, and always in control, Evan Danielson (Eddie Murphy) is a financial wizard, organizing and leading his many clients in the direction of monetary prosperity. This doesn't leave much time for his seven-year-old daughter Olivia (Yara Shahidi), who is socially detached and dependent on her security blanket (named Goo-Gaa) that transports her to an imaginary world with princesses and dragons. It's all in her mind, but when Evan plays along, Olivia's invisible friends miraculously produce accurate advice on stocks, investments and insider tips. Suddenly he's immersed in his daughter's invented fantasy, forcing himself to redefine his relationship with Olivia and the meaning of true success.
"I imagine it was a lot of fun to watch," Evan remarks after undergoing his inevitable early-movie mental breakdown. That might be a slightly generous statement in regards to the entire film, which maintains a worthwhile level of lighthearted humor and father-daughter relationship-mending drama. It isn't overly preachy even though at times it's sickly sweet; Murphy's likeable Evan is a man who wanted kids but probably shouldn't have had one, especially considering his relatable lack of time and subsequent failure to connect with his daughter. Learning to be a better parent through success and defeat with initial manipulation followed by quality bonding, the process is understandably generic - the blueprints for this family flick aren't original but definitely more watchable than similar exploits that can't seem to include any mature bits for older crowds (such as the parental audience assumed to be present with children).
Supporting character actor Ronny Cox plays a role comparable to his famous villain turns in Robocop and Total Recall and Thomas Haden Church steals many scenes as Johnny Whitefeather, a competitive financial executive who exaggeratingly mocks Native American culture with creatively hilarious quotes and unorthodox meditative methods for gaining stock market knowledge ("It's not the paint that makes the warrior," he advises Evan, along with constant references to the "dream sparrow," insulting "little elk" nicknames and other funny Indian riffs). He's quite convincingly phony. There's nothing artificial about the film as a whole, however, which makes Imagine That quality family amusement, even if it doesn't exude total originality.
- Mike Massie
Unimpressive Family Feature.
Review Date: November 16, 2009
Reviewer: Roberto Vitale, Orlando, FL USA
It is a family friendly movie. But it is so lame, it is very hard to watch it all. I could not.
Mixed bag of good and bad
Review Date: July 4, 2009
Reviewer: Mother Hen,
For a movie so obviously aimed at families, why couldn't it be just a bit more family friendly? Some of the language was needlessly crude; if you wouldn't use certain words in a job interview, why would you use them in a family movie?
The plot was sweet enough, and the little girl played by Yara Shahidi was adorable. The Johnny Whitefeather character was an amusing lampoon of new-age mysticism, though the whole movie experience was more like a laughing-on-the-inside kind of funny.
I was also troubled that kids might walk away from this movie with the impression that truly loving parents are supposed to be their child's ultimate playmate. What kid wouldn't love their parents playing dress-up, being the object of a beauty makeover, making and eating (or pretending to eat) disgusting foods, and being a dancing puppet controlled by their child's commands? Kids need parental love and attention; pandering to them is a cheap substitute for consistency.
No details are available for this product
No video reviews found for this product.
CT News Service Latest
Surprisingly cute, even, and enjoyable