The Never Ever

Imaginary tries to make a teddy bear scary. Although Blumhouse is hit or miss lately, I couldn’t pass up the chance to see two different imaginary friend movies in the same year. Unlike the family friendly IF, Imaginary is a horror movie that kids can still technically see since it’s PG-13. Although the idea of a malevolent imaginary friend has promise, director Jeff Wadlow doesn’t have a single good movie to his name. Imaginary centers around DeWanda Wise as children’s book author Jessica. Jessica writes about the creepy Simon the spider that she has nightmares about. Wise is the best actress in the movie who convincingly portrays someone dealing with a repressed childhood.

Tom Payne is her British singer husband Max who exits the movie pretty fast. Leaving Jessica to bond with her stepdaughters Taylor and Alice. Taylor is your typical annoying teenager who resents Jessica a little too much. I know she’s a child actress, but newcomer Pyper Braun is just not convincing as Alice. She’s your run-of-the-mill creepy kid who gets roped into a supernatural plot. Chauncey is a teddy bear that Alice finds and claims as her imaginary friend. It should be silly, but the first act does manage to be unnerving. Though Chauncey spends most of his time toying with people like the neighbor boy.

When Verónica Falcón shows up as a child psychologist, she reveals a kind of obvious twist that’s genuinely creepy. Until it gets ruined by the presence of Betty Buckley as the local crazy lady Gloria. All of her scenes are long-winded explanations about Jessica’s past, the nature of the entity, and how to enter its realm. Like Child’s Play meets The Poltergeist, Alice ends up lost in the Never Ever. Jessica, Taylor, and Gloria use her sinister scavenger hunt to enter the imaginary world that’s no different from other supernatural dimensions. Chauncey is revealed to be a monstrous bear who feels abandoned. The movie ends with a predictable fake out that I’ve seen many times before. Imaginary lacks imagination.

Alice has tea with Chauncey