Movie Review: IF

 Movie Review: IF                                                                                                                        1-13-25

With her dad in the hospital, Bea finds herself staying at her grandmother's apartment the same way she did the summer before her mother died. As she avoids her fears about the situation, she discovers she can see IFs (imaginary friends), and they enlist her to help them get reassigned to new children after their people have grown up and moved on, thinking they no longer need their old emotional supports. The more she tries, the more she realizes that the real solution to all their problems may need her to face down her biggest emotions.

Even though the story is essentially a movie adaptation of Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends with a touch of Spielberg’s Hook, IF excels with a heartfelt timeless tone, outstanding creature designs that actually look like they were created by kids, a good score from Michael Giacinno, and a surprisingly complex protagonist: Bea starts out as your typical cynical girl not too similar to Chihiro from Spirited Away, but after meeting Calvin (Ryan Reynolds’ character in the film) and the main two IFs, Blue and Blossom, she starts to develop a sense of maturity and confidence after dealing with the loss of her mother.

I also love the interaction of the live-action and animated characters. It seems like that Bea and Calvin are actually interacting with the IFs!

In conclusion, despite having a low critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes (Seriously, you need to soften up!), while obviously not on the same caliber as Inside Out 2 and The Wild Robot, IF is an enjoyable film with no cynical bone in its body that the whole family can watch together.

Rating: 3.6 stars out of 5

Animated Movies For 2025

Boy, 2024 was quite a year for animated movies. After five years, Disney finally had a successful movie with Moana 2, which had the biggest box-office opening for a Thanksgiving film. Pixar was able to break The Lion King 2019’s record for being the highest-grossing animated movie of all time with Inside Out 2, which earned a whopping 1.68 billion dollars! DreamWorks was able to wow the crowd with Orion and the Dark and The Wild Robot. Unfortunately for this year, there will be fewer animated movies than usual thanks to the strikes. Regardless, let's see what 2025 has for animated movies!

In January, DreamWorks will release a Captain Underpants spinoff with Dog Man. When a police officer and his dog are caught in an explosion, the nurse Genie S Lady decides to sew the dog’s head onto the man’s body, thus creating Dog Man, licking up crime! The movie will be CG, but will emulate stop-motion in the same fashion as Flushed Away, The LEGO Movie, and The Peanuts Movie. I’m actually a tad concerned about this film, as last time DreamWorks made a spinoff movie to one of their films with Penguins of Madagascar, it had a write-down of 57 million dollars.

In February, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig will star in their very first animated movie with The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie. Due to a series of antics at the bubblegum factory, Daffy and Porky discover a secret alien plot to conquer Earth through mind control. The duo must work together to stop the aliens, while also trying to avoid driving each other insane. Uncle Grandpa creator Peter Browngardt will direct this hand-drawn animated film. And if you're wondering, no. Planet Earth will not be blown up in The Day the Earth Blew Up.

In June, Pixar will release their next movie, Elio. This movie will be about a human boy named Elio as he gets kidnapped by aliens and is mistaken for the ambassador of Planet Earth. This movie was going to be released in March 2024, but was delayed because of the actor’s strike. Let’s hope this movie ends up being a success like Elemental and Inside Out 2.

In July, the famous Belgian blue creatures will appear in their first animated movie in eight years with The Smurfs Movie. Instead of Sony Pictures Animation producing the film, this movie will be done by Nickelodeon, Marcy Media Films, and The Peyo Company, with DreamWorks veteran Chris Miller directing the project.

In August, the famous animal thieves will return in The Bad Guys 2. In this movie, the Bad Guys are struggling to find trust and acceptance in their newly minted lives as Good Guys, when they are pulled out of retirement and forced to do 'one last job' by an all-female squad of criminals. I just hope that this movie lives up to the first one.

There will be two animated movies in November. First, on November 21st, is David, an independent CGI musical that will retell the biblical story of David. The movie has been described as a cross between The Prince of Egypt and Tangled: It will have the beauty and authenticity of The Prince of Egypt and the energy, passion, fun, and humor of Tangled. To learn more about David, click on the link below.

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On November 26th, Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps are back with Zootopia 2. This movie will feature animals that weren’t in Zootopia 1, such as a snake named Gary. I just hope this movie doesn’t end up stinking like a skunk-butt rug.

And finally, in December, the world-famous yellow invertebrate will return for his next animated movie with The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants. This movie will be about SpongeBob journeying to the depths of the ocean to face off against the ghost of the Flying Dutchman. Rather than Bryan Doyle-Murray voicing the famous ghost like on the show, Mark Hamill will voice him instead. With both Sponge on the Run and Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie being SpongeBob’s worst movies to date, I have no desire to see Search For SquarePants.

Of all these films, I'm most excited for The Bad Guys 2, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, and David.

Once again, there will be more animated movies than the ones listed here. These were the ones I wanted to talk about.

I'm sorry that I didn't include a proper picture for The Smurfs Movie. As I'm typing, there are no posters for that film yet.