Kids

This Movie Asks: What “If” You Could Meet Your Imaginary Friends?

by Kevyn Gohu
December 18, 2023

We’ve all had imaginary friends as kids but, what “If” we can meet them in real life?

Imaginary friends play a big role in a child’s life, as they encourage forms of solo play and help them simulate social interactions. While there’s always a time that a kid finally “grows out” of that phase, we as adults fondly remember those moments—nostalgic times when our imaginations would run wild.

But what if we can meet them again? And more so, what can meeting our imaginary friends again do for us as adults? In the movie If, we’re about to find out!

Reconnecting With Our Inner Child

Starring The Walking Dead’s Cailey Flemming, the movie begins with her working together with Deadpool‘s Ryan Reynolds as they both realize they can see all the Imaginary Friends (IFs) that people created when they were still children. With many of their children now adults, these IFs feel lost with no place to go and it’s up to the duo to create a place for them.

The heartwarming family-friendly comedy is quite star-studded—as it features other big names like Evan Almighty‘s Steve Carrell, Mary Poppins and Devil Wears Prada actress Emily Blunt, and even Bourne series action star Matt Damon!

For many millennials, this movie resembles an old cartoon franchise on Cartoon Network: Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends. And while Mac and Frankie stay connected with the imaginary friend Bloo until the end of the series, even finding him a home in Foster’s, If tackles the process of creating one.

It also raises the question: what happens to all the dreams and ideas we created as children that were pushed aside because we’ve grown up?

Meet Your Imaginary Friends This 2024!

Paramount recently released that the movie is planning to come out in 2024 but with no final date yet. But we do know it’s a cute movie for kids and the family and possibly an opportunity for all of us—even new parents—to connect with our inner child.

After all, the whimsicalness and imaginativeness we once had as children, which we gave us because we were growing up, never truly left us. But this movie is also a what-if situation of maybe seeing how amazing our imagination was as a child while appreciating just how creative our own kids are.

If you’re planning to watch the trailer, you can check it out below!