Imagine That Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
What if your daughter's imagination... Was the secret to your success?
A financial executive who can't stop his career downspiral is invited into his daughter's imaginary world, where solutions to his problems await.
| Michael Antonacci | Man at Police Station |
| Brian Barney | Proud Parent |
| Dane Bernhardt | Fancy Dinner Guest |
| Barron Christian | Carl Simons |
| Thomas Haden Church | Whitefeather |
| Ronny Cox | |
| Skip Crank | Trish's coworker |
| DeRay Davis | |
| Robb Derringer | Financial Reporter |
| John DeVito | Additional Voices |
| Jonn Faircrest | Fall festival parent |
| Joseph H. Graves Jr. | Man at coffee shop |
| Joseph Graves | Business Man |
| Adam Greeves | Parent |
| Todd Hacker | Bryson's Assistant |
| Karey Kirkpatrick |
4.30 out of 10 (460 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Better Than Meet Dave, Or Norbit, But That's Not Saying Much
posted on 02 Aug 2009Eddie Murphy's newest comedy, Imagine That does not have the painfully low amount of laughs as Meet Dave, or the extreme offensiveness of Norbit. In fact, it does have one or two laughs, and it's kind of sweet, and certainly not offensive. That said, even this Eddie Murphy vehicle can't stop my belief that by now Eddie Murphy should be flipping burgers somewhere. When I say one or two laughs, I mean I got a quiet ha-ha every 55 minutes of the movie, and it's 110 minutes. The sweetness comes from the fact that Eddie Murphy is a jerk to his daughter, and then is all of a sudden nice to her. Don't worry, that's not even actually sweet, he just does it so he can get a promotion. The only real entertainment, and not funny or sweet entertainment comes from Thomas Haden Church as Johnny Whitefeather, Evan Danielson (Eddie Murphy)'s business rival with a weird way of business. Unfortunately, he's only in a couple of scenes. The two laughs come from Bobbe J. Thompson (the kid who played the foul-mouthed Ronnie in Role Models) as a kid offered easy money, and who denies it. The second laugh is Johnny getting his son hopped up on red bull so he can use the same skill Evan uses for his business predictions. This is not a good movie by any means, but if you want to see a bad Eddie Murphy film, then this is the best bad Eddie Murphy film you can get. Unlike his previous films, instead of being horrible, it's just mediocre.
Imagine That Movie Review from The Massie Twins
posted on 05 Jul 2009Eddie Murphy frequently goes as overboard as Jim Carrey or Robin Williams, but Imagine That manages to have just the right amount of silly. It's a family friendly movie that fortunately presents equal doses of immaturity and seriousness, making the event more evenly entertaining than one might expect from seeing the obnoxiously childish trailer. Performances on a whole are sincere (subdued for Murphy) and convincing; unlike similarly plotted stories like Disney's The Game Plan, Imagine That never gets to the point of annoying, which is becoming a more and more difficult feat for formulaic yet effective children's features.Focused, driven, and always in control, Evan Danielson (Eddie Murphy) is a financial wizard, organizing and leading his many clients in the direction of monetary prosperity. This doesn't leave much time for his seven-year-old daughter Olivia (Yara Shahidi), who is socially detached and dependent on her security blanket (named Goo-Gaa) that transports her to an imaginary world with princesses and dragons. It's all in her mind, but when Evan plays along, Olivia's invisible friends miraculously produce accurate advice on stocks, investments and insider tips. Suddenly he's immersed in his daughter's invented fantasy, forcing himself to redefine his relationship with Olivia and the meaning of true success."I imagine it was a lot of fun to watch," Evan remarks after undergoing his inevitable early-movie mental breakdown. That might be a slightly generous statement in regards to the entire film, which maintains a worthwhile level of lighthearted humor and father-daughter relationship-mending drama. It isn't overly preachy even though at times it's sickly sweet; Murphy's likable Evan is a man who wanted kids but probably shouldn't have had one, especially considering his relatable lack of time and subsequent failure to connect with his daughter. Learning to be a better parent through success and defeat with initial manipulation followed by quality bonding, the process is understandably generic - the blueprints for this family flick aren't original but definitely more watchable than similar exploits that can't seem to include any mature bits for older crowds (such as the parental audience assumed to be present with children).Supporting character actor Ronny Cox plays a role comparable to his famous villain turns in Robocop and Total Recall and Thomas Haden Church steals many scenes as Johnny Whitefeather, a competitive financial executive who exaggeratingly mocks Native American culture with creatively hilarious quotes and unorthodox meditative methods for gaining stock market knowledge ("It's not the paint that makes the warrior," he advises Evan, along with constant references to the "dream sparrow," insulting "little elk" nicknames and other funny Indian riffs). He's quite convincingly phony. There's nothing artificial about the film as a whole, however, which makes Imagine That quality family amusement, even if it doesn't exude total originality.- Mike Massie
The Worst Movie of the Year (So Far)
posted on 05 Jul 2009We left after an hour. This movie is an embarrassment. The Thomas Haden Church Indian character was so bad you couldn't even laugh. Why do they make this garbage? The little girl was cute but a terrible actress. What was Martin Sheen doing in this picture? Does he need a payday that bad? Eddie Murphy was funny in the Dr. Doolittle movies but here it's sad to see him burdened with a terrible script. This is the top candidate so far for "Worst Picture of the Year". Thomas Haden Church has set his career back with this role. Take every cliché in the book and he put it into this role. His dialogue was an insult to American Indians who should be boycotting this terrible flick. The reviewer in my local paper gave it zero stars. I think he overrated it!
"I want my goo-gaa!"--Nowhere Man (Evan Danielson)
posted on 03 Jul 2009After last summer's MEET DAVE, it wouldn't be hard to picture Eddie Murphy being forced to reprise his DADDY DAY CARE role, replacing Cuba Gooding, Jr. from DADDY DAY CAMP in DADDY DAY COLLEGE. However, Murphy gets a fresh start in IMAGINE THAT as estranged husband and father Evan Danielson, who has inexplicably become the patsy of a sham Native-American shaman in the Denver investment firm Evan's headlined for nine years. Somehow, Evan's daughter Olivia's binkie blanket (or "goo-gaa," here) and her four imaginary royal friends put Danielson back on the winning track. I was able to relate to the over-the-topness here, as I once had to race half a mile across a shopping mega-mall to retrieve my own son's tattered binkie remnant from the the shadows below the back seat of a new black pick-up truck he'd crawled through while it was on display in the mall's horse-track-sized center aisle. Couple this nostalgia with IMAGINE THAT's perfect placing of the Beatle's song "Nowhere Man" (performed here by Landon Pigg) and the film's refusal to tuck Evan neatly back in bed with his estranged Mrs. Danielson, and this offering earns an above-average mark.
Great Family Film - Don't Sleep On This
posted on 27 Jun 2009I think everyone is jaded against Eddie Murphy. This film was excellent. It was heartwarming, charming and the little girl was to die for. If I had a daughter I would want her to be just like that. The story was unique and showed the bonding between parent and child like no other. Don't sleep on this film. It is not Citizen Kane but it is a heartwarming tearjerker. The part where Eddie teaches her how to sing and the ending almost brought me to tears. Thomas Haden Church's character was hilarious, the competition and the scenes with his son had everyone in the theater howling. This is an awesome movie, cant wait to buy it on Blu Ray. Simple silly fun from Eddie Murphy.... Imagine That!
OK Movie
posted on 21 Jun 2009This movie is OK not the best Eddie Murphy movie but I got a laugh of it, The storyline isn't the best but not the worst it is worth seeing. Its been a while since Eddie has been in a good movie bud this isn't a bad movie but it can be better, This is defiantly Karey Kirkpatrick's best movie. He really expresses his imagination in this movie and shows what he can do. Eddie Murphy helps the movie a lot as he alone can make me laugh, This wont be a huge hit but I would defiantly Recommend this movie it will make you laugh for sure but it isn't well written plot wise but believe me you will laugh and wanting more. The best father-daughter relationship. I would give this movie 6.7/10
What A Tease!
posted on 13 Jun 2009A successful financial executive (Eddie Murphy) has more time for his BlackBerry than his seven-year-old daughter (Yara Shahidi). When he has a crisis of confidence and his career starts going down the drain, however, he finds the solution to all his problems in his daughter's imaginary world. Where to begin.... i know! Why this movie was bad. Well for starters Eddie Murphy hasn't taken any good roles since Beverly Hills Cop and Thomas Haden Church is more smarter than to accept a role like that. Now i know it's a kids movie, but even the kid sitting next to me said it was a con. My advice, either wait until the DVD or just don't bother. Imagine That 2/10
Pleasant but insubstantial. The parts don't completely belong together, and the film feels a bit weak, flabby, and unfinished
posted on 18 Aug 2009I have always liked Eddie Murphy. Some of my favourite movies had him perform brilliantly in the Klumps films, and the Nutty Professor. This film is pleasant, but bland and flabby. It has no substance. The plot is simple enough--- Murphy is in a "death struggle" with a rival at his competitive work environment, and he is unexpectedly rescued by his young daughter's fantasy relationships with her fairy princesses and other invisible friends.There would be nothing wrong with that plot were it not that the film doesn't seem to have any backbone. No internal support. It is like the work of a friend of mine, a designer and remodeler of houses and buildings. She will sometimes construct life-sized versions of proposed building changes with large sheets of cardboard, held together with duct tape. She will place these "new" walls and elements right in the actual places they would occupy if installed. This technique gives one a very real sense of what the proposed changes will look and feel like. But the cardboard does not actually substitute for real structures. It is not designed to.This film has that same cardboardy and insubstantial feel to it. One gets the "idea" of the story, but not a real substantive story. As if the writer and director merely sketched out a rough and thin version of the finished product, but then forgot to go back replace the sketches with actual, solid, real parts.For example, Murphy has an arch enemy in this film--- a smarmy con-man type who presents himself as some kind of native American Medicine Man or shaman. He even calls himself Mr. Whitefeather, and wears clothes and jewelry with a Navajo motif. He even wears eagle feathers in one scene, and peppers his speech with commercialised versions of faux-Medicine-Man psycho-babble. He uses his "Indianness" to dazzle potential clients who are caught up in the exotica of a tribal theme. But, we find out he is really a fake, with a great-grandfather Navaho, making him a virtual non-starter in the PC world of "Let's be nice to the Natives." OK, fine--- but what does that have to do with Murphy and his daughter? Sadly, nothing at all. Yes, the con man's deception was disgraceful, but it also belonged in some other movie, not this one.The child actress playing the daughter was charming, and a very good actor. yet 90% of the time I could not account for her moods--- she is withdrawn and moody. Why? Dunno... What's the moodiness leading to next in the plot? Again, dunno...The cause-and-effect logic of Murphy and his fellow cast members' actions was also not at all clear. The scenes kind of existed, at times, as static and unrelated events. Never did I laugh (nor did the audience), and never was I puzzled, surprised, delighted, or otherwise engaged.This film needed another 6 months of rewriting and rethinking before being made. Murphy is a genius! Can't ANYONE write a decent movie for him?