“Imagine That” has a cute, family-oriented premise, but it’s ruined by Eddie Murphy doing too much Eddie Murphy shtick. His character, workaholic Evan, dances around, contorts his face into weird expressions, and exaggerates his reactions to what’s happening around him. When Evan discovers that his daughter (Yara Shahidi) communicates with a set of imaginary playmates that deliver accurate insider stock tips, he must play along with his daughter by pretending to visit her friends in their fairy kingdom to garner more tips. This requires him to have fun with his daughter and, surprise!, become a better father.
“Imagine That” benefits from Eddie Murphy’s manic energy, but that energy is also its weakness. It gets to be a bit much after a while. One bright note is Shahidi, who is impressive in her movie debut. While “Imagine That” is better than last year’s “Meet Dave,” it’s only mildly entertaining. 6/14/09
1 comment:
Eddie Murphy has been dropping like a stone at the box office over the past few years and I think I know the reason why. Eddie has decided to make "G" and "PG" rated movies for his own reasons, maybe spiritual, maybe cultural, I don't know for sure. The problem is that he still uses his "Jerry Lewis" style craziness and it just doesn't work like it did when he was doing "R" rated comedy. Take out some of the off-key singing, the zany dancing and the "over the top" Eddie Murphy-isms and this would have been a better film. The little girl who played his daughter (Yara Ahahidi) was delightful and I thought the theme of the film was a very good idea. It reminded me a little of "Trading Places" that Murphy did a few years ago, one of his best. I give it a 2 1/2 bagger out of 5
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