In Brooklyn, New York, on magically shining streets and in sun-drenched interiors provided by cinematographer and frequent Steven Spielberg collaborator Janusz Kaminski, Bea finds herself beset by a series of imaginary friends, most of them long separated from their human companions of old. “IF” sets up a scenario in which Bea and former clown Cal, now a testy, sullen lost soul played by Ryan Reynolds in a similarly thwarted limbo state, start a matchmaking agency to reunite the IFs with their now-adult companions, or else find suitable new matches. Their IF colleague is Blossom, an animated early Disney-esque creation voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. There are some promising ideas afoot. The IFs, the most prominent being the purple goofball Blue voiced by Steve Carell, reside beneath Coney Island in a magical retirement home. The voice casting boasts plenty of talent and fame, from George Clooney (as an astronaut IF) to Emily Blunt (as a unicorn IF) to the late Louis Gossett Jr., as a wise and mellow Teddy bear, Lewis. It’s genuinely sweet to hear Gossett Jr.’s easygoing delivery one more time.
Krasinski hasn’t overplotted his story, exactly, but it’s heavily padded and dangerously light on actual jokes. Reynolds’ Cal is all impatience with next to no story reason for being, besides one big reason sprung at the end. At its core, “IF” deals with rampant anxieties coated in honey, a one-two combination deployed in countless stories beloved by both children and adults. But whimsy that periodically goes for the throat is not easy to pull off. “IF” reminds us how certain key ingredients — charm, wit, clarity, emotional tact and resonance — cannot be willed into narrative existence, or fixed in post.
At one crucial juncture Bea, promised earlier by her father that he will not die on her, is put through the wringer not knowing if he’s dead or alive, even though the saintly nurse perpetually on call (Liza Colón Zayas of “The Bear”) makes it super clear in the preceding scene that he’ll be fine. I mean, anything’s possible in a health crisis. But I’m not sure Krasinski was clear on his own intentions at this point, other than to jack us around a little for sport.
The larger issue is one of messaging. “IF” caters to a young audience, of course, and to fathers and daughters everywhere, as well as parents and adult guardians who’ve given up on the wonderment of childhood and the sweet innocence of made-up friends and the tonic of pure imagination. Character to character, the script sells everyone’s emotional lives short. It’s a strangely scold-y sort of heart-yanker, calling out the ignorance of grown-ups who ditched their IFs and childhood treasures as they grew up. Pixar digs this idea the most, as we know, and the best Pixar films brake right at the edge of shameless pathos while surprising us with little details and larger, deeper emotional crossroads. “IF” feels like well-meaning guesswork, with an eye toward the suspiciously familiar. When humans and IFs find each other again, it’s the heart-light routine from “E.T.” When the sadness of the abandoned IFs dominates the narrative, it’s like watching “Inside Out” populated entirely by Bing Bongs.