The film begins with various moments from when Bea was little, where she would paint and play make-believe. She especially had a close bond with her mother, who later died from cancer.

Years have passed. Bea is now 12 years old. She is sent to move in with her grandma since her dad needs to have heart surgery. She even visits the same hospital where she lost her mom and where her father will receive surgery.

Her dad likes to remind her of the times when she would play pretend as a small child. But she claims that she is not a little kid anymore and wants to move past that.

Not long after, though, does Bea encounter peculiar creatures, who happen to be imaginary friends of various children. One of them is named Blue, who is a large, purple-haired being. Another is Blossom, a British butterfly-like woman. More and more come.

Bea meets Cal, who is in charge of the imaginary friends. He states that they had to leave the kids they were previously assigned to since the kids were getting older and less interested in them. So, he is trying to help them find new children.

Although she is resistant at first, Bea decides to help Cal and the imaginary friends. They first go to an underground facility beneath Coney Island. There, they meet an elderly Teddy bear who is in charge of it. He inspires Bea to imagine a new design for the facility.

How will things progress from there?

I admire the concept of this movie a lot. One was how “IF” both stood for “imaginary friends” and the word for one to use their imagination. Before I saw this film, I thought “IF” was only intended to imagine those creatures.

Another aspect was how this movie is similar to both Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, which was a show on Cartoon Network back in the 2000s, and The Fairly OddParents. Both shows depict child characters with supernatural companions who will only be with them temporarily until they get older. Then they are assigned to new kids.

I enjoyed Bea as a character. She had a great relationship with both her parents. I really appreciate the idea of the main character having loving parents, especially if they get along with them. 

There is also this little boy, Benjamin, whom Bea meets in the hospital when visiting the room where her mom died. It was too bad that he couldn’t get an imaginary friend.

As impressive as the premise is, unfortunately, this movie did not really keep my attention. One of the reasons was because there was too much set-up at the beginning. I think, at least, some of those memories could have been removed. Sometimes, the tension wasn’t strong enough either. 

That being said, the movie would still make a nice watch for families, particularly those with younger kids. None of the creatures are scary. In fact, they might excite kids, or even inspire them.

But for me, this movie just didn’t please me as much as I hoped it would.

I give IF 3.5 out of 5 stars.