Imagine That

(G) Paramount DVD/BD

Imagine That is the tale of seven-year-old Olivia, who is coping with her parents’ split — and her father’s scant attention — with the help of a security blanket. That blanket, draped over her head, gives her access to an imaginary world full of castles and dragons, three princesses, and one queen.

Evan (Eddie Murphy) is occupied — preoccupied by his job. He’s not a great dad.

Evan does focus on his daughter when, after a series of comic hi-jinks, he realises Olivia’s blanket and imaginary friends have inside information on the companies he’s researching for his clients (securities blanket, get it?). Evan becomes the talk of Denver’s financial world.

In order to get all of this information from the princesses and queen, Evan starts actually spending time with his daughter. Olivia teaches her dad how to come with her to her imaginary (or is it?) world.

This is a movie about a father learning to connect with his daughter. If you dwell on the ways the movie doesn’t quite add up or seems to be not quite funny enough, you’d miss the point.

Although at first Evan’s reasons for connecting with his daughter seem a little mercenary, the more he spends time with Olivia and her imaginary friends the more they connect — and that’s something all parents should have reinforced.

Adrian Drayton