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Spoilers for IF lie ahead, so read on accordingly.
Ryan Reynolds shed his life-saving Deadpool suit and recently appeared in the family 2024 movie release IF. While critics have derided John Krasinski’s flick, audiences are not remotely agreeing, as they’ve fallen in love with the heartwarming tale of imaginary friends trying to reconnect with their kids. After heading out to the movies to see it, I can confidently say that I loved it. And that’s not just because it reminded me of the classic Cartoon Network show Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends.
I had no idea that a movie about imaginary friends was going to leave me emotionally devastated, but I should have seen it coming. After all, the movie’s premise is similar to that of the Cartoon Network show, which always had me teetering between laughing and crying. Critics and skeptics might say that my love for the Ryan Reynolds-led movie stems from nostalgia for Foster’s, but that’s only part of the reason why I enjoyed it so much.
IF Balances Child-Like Adventure With Heartwarming Moments
IF centers on Bea (Cailey Fleming), a 12-year-old girl whose life has been anything but easy. After losing her mother several years earlier, she’s back living with her grandmother in New York while her father awaits heart surgery. Desperate to keep his daughter’s childlike sense of wonder alive, her father (played by John Krasinski) encourages her to go on an adventure instead of hanging around the hospital.
Despite Bea’s hesitancy, adventure finds her when she becomes one of the only humans who can see imaginary friends or IFs. Ultimately, she teams up with Cal (Ryan Reynolds) as they attempt to reconnect the IFs with their original owners, who have forgotten about them.
The family-friendly film taps into what it’s like to be a kid who’s desperate to be seen as an adult but not yet ready to give up their childhood. The IFs bring the humor, especially Blue, which is voiced by Krasinski’s The Office co-star Steve Carell. And it even expands the possibilities of what imaginary friends can look like. (Who knew they could be invisible like Keith?)
As much as I enjoyed laughing, the emotional heart of the movie is what truly made it one of my new favorites. Bea’s bond with her father was refreshing to see, and it certainly had me worried that something bad was going to happen to him. Thankfully, the A Quiet Place director spared us from crying over another parental death. Instead, he made me shed tears over a reveal involving Cal — and I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen the movie yet.
Why IF Really Made Me Miss Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends
When I first saw the trailer for IF, I immediately drew parallels between the movie and the old Cartoon Network series, which deserves a revival. It was hard not to consider that the entire story centered on forgotten imaginary friends as well as the fact that one of their names was easily similar to the main Foster’s imaginary friend, Bloo.
For those who don’t remember, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends is considered to be one of the last originals created for the golden era of Cartoon Cartoon Fridays. It follows Mac, an eight-year-old who is being pressured to abandon his imaginary friend, Bloo. Instead of giving him up entirely, he strikes a deal with Madame Foster, who runs the orphanage for imaginary friends. She agrees not to put Bloo up for adoption while he lives there as long as Mac visits every day.
IF might come close to capturing the magic that the classic series created but, because the film, is a hybrid of live-action and animation, kept some of the antics grounded in reality. In contrast, the cartoon was able to push the limits of how the imaginary friends could get themselves into trouble.
I was never a Cartoon Network kid, preferring Disney Channel, but there was something about Foster’s Home that pulled me in. I watched every episode as they aired and, to this day, I still quote hilarious moments from the show. John Krasinski’s definitely invigorated my love for the early-aughts cartoon. Unfortunately, there’s no way for me to revisit it in its entirety without paying a streamer for each episode. It was originally available on HBO Max/Max in its entirety but was ultimately removed from the service. One would hope that it will find its way onto another platform at some point. There is good news, though.
As IF is seeing success at the box office, Hanna-Barbera Studios is reportedly working on a Foster’s spinoff, which was confirmed in 2022. OG creator Craig McCracken is returning to produce, and it’ll be aimed at pre-schoolers and feature a brand new cast of characters. It’ll be intriguing to see how that pans out and, in the meantime, I plan on checking out IF again in theaters and endlessly streaming it when it’s made available.