Imagine That (2009)

Why hello there, its been a while! Let's review 2009's Imagine That with Eddie Murphy, Thomas Haden Church and Yara Shahidi.  I am giving Imagine That a 4 star review.  We will cover casting, scrip/filming and enjoyability.



Let's dive right in with casting.  The film had a well rounded cast, and everyone fit their roles quite well.  Eddie Murphy was the main character Evan Danielson, while Yara Shahidi played his daughter Olivia.  This is the first time I have seen Yara, and I was impressed.  She has an incredible grasp on emotions and is able to portray them amazing on screen.  Thomas Haden Church plays Evan's arch rival Johnny Whitefeather at work.  I continue to be amazed by Thomas.  He is able to play multiple different roles, and I am impressed with his amazing energy on screen.  Martin Sheen rounds out the cast as both Thomas and Eddie's potential future boss that they compete to impress.

Script and filming was solid as well.  Without giving too much of the film away, Eddie's daughter has a security blanket and he finds it can answer the questions he has about his job.  He finds himself connecting with his daughter accidentally as he uses her blanket to answer his questions.  It has a warm fuzzy ending as you would expect from this type of movie.  The movie is very powerful as you see the bond between him and his daughter repair it self after years of falling apart.  Filming helped emphasize this power in using different techniques to highlight certain key parts of the film.

Enjoyability is what helps to get this film up to a 4 star from a generic 3 star that lots of films such as this one get.  Eddie's 100% stern business first character gets to deal with his daughter for a week straight, and in doing so is put into many awkward situations.  The build up is good, the body of the story is solid and entertaining.  The ending, even though it is somewhat predictable, is brought about it an interesting and cute way that ends up making the movie.

If you are looking for a good family movie, that will have some underlying adult themes in it to keep you entertained as well, here it is!  Imagine That ends up with a 4 star rating.  As always please leave comments, follow my blog above and share to your favorite social networking site below.  Ciao for now and see you for the next review!