Imagine That (D or 1/4 stars)
Oh, Eddie Murphy. How far ye have fallen. 'Imagine That', directed by Karey Kirkpatrick, tells the story of a financial exec named Evan Danielson (Murphy) who uses his daughter's imaginary world to help him dig out of a career downward spiral. Yes ... he uses his unknowing, adorable daughter to simultaneously 'create' a relationship with her, AND help solve his work problems. Nice. You see, Evan is a talented analyst at a firm that is going under some restructuring. The company's CEO is selling to corporation bigwig, Dante D'Enzo (Martin Sheen); who intends to embolden his current empire. He comes up with a challenge to Evan & his biggest competitor, Johnny Whitefeather (Thomas Haden Church). And whoever impresses him the most will get a very nice promotion within the corporation.
But Evan loses his focus & his confidence; and sees his position at the firm as diminishing, rather than improving. successful & driven - has one stumbling block, however. This would be his 7 yr. old daughter, Olivia (Yara Shahidi); who is staying with him for the week while her mom is busy with her new man. Normally, Evan poo-poos the idea of hanging out with his daughter; too distracted by his career demands. But this week would be different. Desperate for daddy to pay attention to her, Olivia delves into her make-believe world; consulting a group of princesses (and a queen) about how certain stocks will fare. At first, Evan doesn't believe it, but when Olivia's predictions start coming true, he starts to believe in her imaginary world! HE can't see them, but by playing along with an impressionable Olivia, he soon desires to be with her all the time (but not for completely honorable reasons!). Sure, he re-examines his relationship with Olivia; realizing his parental responsibilities. And maybe things will be better btwn. them now. But the way he achieves success at his job, & the way improves his relationship with her is one of my biggest gripes with the movie (though, not the biggest).
It just rubs me the wrong way that an opportunistic father would use his unknowing daughter for business gain. It's unethical, unrealistic, & stupid. My biggest gripe with the movie is how utterly BORING it is. I couldn't care less about Evan's job woes. And I couldn't bring myself to care about his "working relationship" with little, naive Olivia. I did NOT fall for the 'aww, look daddy & daughter's problems are all fixed' angle. It's a cheap ploy. Furthermore, Olivia often communicates with her imaginary world, but we get to see none of it; just taking her word (and ear) for how insightful & wonderful it is. Why not show a little bit of that wonder (a la Bedtime Stories or a Bridge to Terabithia). I was never able to get on the train to Olivia's world of imagination; with exception to a few rogue scenes where Eddie Murphy brought a faint smile to my face. I just struggled to remain interested & involved throughout.
Speaking of those rogue scenes, one of them involves Murphy & Shahidi preparing, making, & eating pancakes. It's a genuinely humorous & heartfelt scene in a movie that needed a ton more like it. In the end, I think some people (mostly kids) will get a kick out of Murphy's silly, physical comedy & pratfalls. But us adults who've know Murphy for decades now will frown at the inevitable decline of the "utilization" of his talent. What's generic here used to be daring, kinetic, & hysterical. I wish I could say 'Imagine That' was a mediocre family film with touches of comedy & pathos sewn in. But it doesn't even reach those shallow heights. The plot revelations are distasteful. The ending is both perfunctory & ineffectual. And I can't tell you how often I cringed & yawned throughout.
But Evan loses his focus & his confidence; and sees his position at the firm as diminishing, rather than improving. successful & driven - has one stumbling block, however. This would be his 7 yr. old daughter, Olivia (Yara Shahidi); who is staying with him for the week while her mom is busy with her new man. Normally, Evan poo-poos the idea of hanging out with his daughter; too distracted by his career demands. But this week would be different. Desperate for daddy to pay attention to her, Olivia delves into her make-believe world; consulting a group of princesses (and a queen) about how certain stocks will fare. At first, Evan doesn't believe it, but when Olivia's predictions start coming true, he starts to believe in her imaginary world! HE can't see them, but by playing along with an impressionable Olivia, he soon desires to be with her all the time (but not for completely honorable reasons!). Sure, he re-examines his relationship with Olivia; realizing his parental responsibilities. And maybe things will be better btwn. them now. But the way he achieves success at his job, & the way improves his relationship with her is one of my biggest gripes with the movie (though, not the biggest).
It just rubs me the wrong way that an opportunistic father would use his unknowing daughter for business gain. It's unethical, unrealistic, & stupid. My biggest gripe with the movie is how utterly BORING it is. I couldn't care less about Evan's job woes. And I couldn't bring myself to care about his "working relationship" with little, naive Olivia. I did NOT fall for the 'aww, look daddy & daughter's problems are all fixed' angle. It's a cheap ploy. Furthermore, Olivia often communicates with her imaginary world, but we get to see none of it; just taking her word (and ear) for how insightful & wonderful it is. Why not show a little bit of that wonder (a la Bedtime Stories or a Bridge to Terabithia). I was never able to get on the train to Olivia's world of imagination; with exception to a few rogue scenes where Eddie Murphy brought a faint smile to my face. I just struggled to remain interested & involved throughout.
Speaking of those rogue scenes, one of them involves Murphy & Shahidi preparing, making, & eating pancakes. It's a genuinely humorous & heartfelt scene in a movie that needed a ton more like it. In the end, I think some people (mostly kids) will get a kick out of Murphy's silly, physical comedy & pratfalls. But us adults who've know Murphy for decades now will frown at the inevitable decline of the "utilization" of his talent. What's generic here used to be daring, kinetic, & hysterical. I wish I could say 'Imagine That' was a mediocre family film with touches of comedy & pathos sewn in. But it doesn't even reach those shallow heights. The plot revelations are distasteful. The ending is both perfunctory & ineffectual. And I can't tell you how often I cringed & yawned throughout.