The Imaginary

This must be the year of imaginary friends.

We had Imaginary, a horror film released in March, and IF, a family film released in May. But Japan saw its own movie about imaginary friends last December with The Imaginary, Studio Ponoc's anime film based on AF Harrold's novel. It premiered on Netflix last month, and you'll hear about it now.

Rudger (Louie Rudge-Buchanan in English) is the imaginary friend of Amanda Shuffleup (Evie Kiszel). He and Amanda have been inseparable in the just over three years after her dad's death. They frequently venture off into imaginary worlds from the comfort of Amanda's attic. Her mom, Lizzie (Hayley Atwell), can't see Rudger, but she doesn't mind his invisible presence. Rudger is soon noticed by Mr. Bunting (Jeremy Sweet), a creepy man who devours "Imaginaries" like Rudger. Amanda and Rudger escape one attempt on his life, but she runs in front of a car ...

With Amanda comatose, Rudger starts to fade away into nothingness. An eerie cat named Zinzan (Kal Penn) guides him to a magical city where Imaginaries thrive on unlimited imagination. The Imaginaries are employed as day-players to join kids on their dreamtime adventures. They may even get permanently employed in a new imaginary form. Rudger, however, wants to check up on Amanda. He doesn't have much time, for Mr. Bunting is still looking for him, and it's physically impossible for him to remain outside the library for long.

Director Yoshiyuki Momose, a longtime animator for Studio Ghibli, works from a screenplay by Ponoc's founder Yoshiaki Nishimura. The story they tell is pretty good, even if the pacing is sometimes a bit off. It takes several encounters with Mr. Bunting before the story gets going. But in the meantime, we get plenty of time to know Rudger and Amanda. That makes it shocking when she gets run over. The Imaginary City is quite fascinating, as is how the Imaginaries find new real friends. A few moments, like a flashback to Amanda creating Rudger and Lizzie finding Mr. Shuffleup's last message to Amanda, are emotionally devastating. I watched the film with subtitles, so I was taken aback whenever they flip-flopped between "Rudger" and "Roger"; even the Space Opera dream Rudger joins calls him the latter! But much to my relief, this was a plot point. A good one. 

It helps that we have a tangible villain with Mr. Bunting. You'll instantly recognize him as the bad guy long before he does anything nefarious. His sniffing out Imaginaries is disturbing on so many levels, which isn't helped by his mouth turning into a void when he feeds. He savors his own villainy with every syllable he utters. His most enjoyable moment, naturally, is when he meets his demise. He has his own Imaginary, a little girl who looks awfully like Sadako, who proves quite an efficient enforcer. She's quite compelling when she makes a climactic heel-face turn, though I can't explain anymore. 

So, what about the other Imaginaries? They're all highly merchandisable, highly appealing creatures, some of whom are implied to be the muses of the likes of Shakespeare and Beethoven. Rudger's friend group consists of the human Emily (Sky Katz), the Imaginaries' de-facto leader; Snowflake (Roger Craig Smith), a cuddly hippo; Crusher-of-Bones (Courtenay Taylor), who is far less threatening than his name implies; and Fridge (LeVar Burton), an old sheepdog who proves very plot relevant. Fridge and Zinzan both make for great mentor figures. In fact, all of the Imaginaries are likable, but beware, not all of them make it out alive. What's worse is that no one remembers them soon after. Yikes.

What's far more appealing is the animation style and the score. The film's watercolored animation style works wonders for both the fantastical and ordinary realms Rudger and company inhabit. The Imaginary City takes the form of something new every night - one night, it's Venice, another it's 19th-century Nagasaki - and both forms are as appealing as the real cities. The Bookstore Lizzie and Amanda call home is, by far, the most appealing of the real-world locales. The score by Kenji Tamai and his company, agehasprings, perfectly accentuates the film's many moods. The film's opening, Amanda and Rudger's rollicking sleigh ride, and Mr. Bunting's theme, provide some of the best aural highlights.

What else can I say about it? The Imaginary is a splendid family film that will resonate with you in whatever language you watch it in. You'll have little trouble remembering anyone in the cast, whether it's the young protagonists or their monstrous villain, as their stories unfold over 105-minutes. I'd be tempted to compare this to IF, but I'd rather you Netflix and Chill and watch it for yourself. I might have made it sound a bit straightforward, but I assure you there are some surprises in store. That's it for now.