
Imaginary is the latest edition of the superhits by the “Blumhouse” series, authored by Jeff Wadlow of Truth or Dare fame. Just like many others good or sitcom roaster by the production company; “Imaginary” settles on the category of filler films. The web is often overburdened with too many narratives that are executed in an over-simplistic manner: generic dialogue, car commercial visuals, and an unused first draft creative concept that is still wrinkled.
Jessica (DeWanda Wise) after the successful release of her children’s book, runs the complicated task of connecting with her teenage stepdaughter Taylor (Taegen Burns), who is much more hostile than her teenage years suggest, and the much younger and softer of the two: Alice (Pyper Braun). When her family relocates to Jessica’s parent’s house, Alice becomes friends with an imaginary character called Chauncey. He alters the dynamics of the already tense environment, while also bringing back memories long hidden in the Martinez family. In what looks harmless as a simple game, “prove our friendship or I will take you on a trip” is a threat by Alice’s teddy bear to make her complete awful tasks before taking her on they promised trip.
In the middle of this family saga of Jessica’s ‘otherness’ within the family, there is another subplot, ambiguous childhood abuse memories and strained relationships with Jessica’s father are concealed in the distance.
For Jessica, making children’s books is the only way she thinks she can break free and escape. In a similar vein, Alice learns along with the other children that their mother is in confinement because of her mental illness and as her mother is absent in her life, she lets her fantasies grow with the presence of Chauncey. As the psychic connection between Alice and Jessica becomes more defined with time in the movie, the remaining part makes further turns into a road of bewilderment, exhibiting different rules, genres, and cultures that erase everything about the previous storyline.
On the other hand, when an elderly neighbor and Jessica’s babysitter, Gloria (Betty Buckley), is introduced, “Imaginary” shifts ever so slightly from the edge of horror to a very soft touch of science myth. The perceived image of a bear/possession/demon has vanished and in its place is a ‘Coraline’ inspired hidden door which opens up an entirely new concept as a world of the imagination of children lost through time. The visuals, situated somewhere between ‘The Haunted Mansion’ and ‘Thirteen Ghosts’, are ironically bland.
Although it wishes to be placed in a horror sub-genre, its actual implementation over the entire course of the film feels more like a jumbled mess of ideas, one of which has the potential of being used as a trope but fails.
With its genre ambitions, “Imaginary” is somewhat light on scares and gore and prefers the notion of what its concept could be rather than what the film is about. It is devoid of any carnage candy, nor heart-pounding suspense in order to relieve the film from its droning pace but instead, it becomes trapped in a cycle of disappointments and more disappointments as the strain of anticipation or bloodshed collapses into yet a further anticlimax.
In a script created by Wadlow, Oremland, and Greg Erb, of the script’s tone is dull at best, which matches the dull performances the actors give. Each of Lemke’s lines is unbearably self-evident and unnecessary except for advancing a theme or giving exposition to the following scene. In Reality, never seems so much as scratched when it comes to the subtext of its possibilities. It might have been a parody of “Ted,” which is too overloaded with blood and satire, or an overly self-parodying horror-comedy like “M3gan” or “Child’s Play” or something, but it hovers in limbo somewhere else in midway the spectrum, void of any sense of purpose or consideration. It does not have to be ‘Real Steel’ for this film about robots, but what it fails to have is the personality that the other movies do. Ironically, given that this is a film devoted to the ideal ‘imagination’, Mimicry ‘Imaginary’ is extremely average, boring, and forgettable.
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