'IF' review: Sweet, sincere, but could have been more

“I’m not a kid,” says preteen Bea at the beginning of “IF.” Bea has just lost her mother, presumably to cancer, and now she’s waiting for her father to undergo surgery for an unspecified ailment. No wonder she has put away childish things.

Enter Cal (Ryan Reynolds), a mysterious fellow who serves as caregiver for a menagerie of strange creatures. One is Blue, a friendly fur-ball with the voice of Steve Carell; another is Blossom, a big-eyed butterfly with the spindly limbs of a Fleischer Brothers cartoon and the voice of Phoebe Waller-Bridge. It turns out these are Imaginary Friends, or IFs, who were long ago abandoned. And Bea, who has the unusual ability to see them, decides to reunite them with their now-grown inventors.

“IF” is written and directed by John Krasinski and released by Paramount Pictures, but it has all the hallmarks of a Pixar movie: abstractions brought to life, a fantastical world ripe for discovery and a knot of pain buried in the emotional landscape. As “IF” unfolds, it mines its premise for inventive ideas and treats us to a handful of tender moments. Truth be told, however, Pixar probably could have done this movie better.

There’s a lot to like here, including Cailey Fleming, the 17-year-old actress who convincingly plays 12-year-old Bea, and Krasinski as her bravely clowning dad. (His dance-duet with an IV cart is a nice touch.) When the CGI IFs are on screen, you can play Name That Voice: Everyone from George Clooney to Amy Schumer to Jon Stewart gets a role. The best turn comes from Louis Gossett, Jr. as Lewis, a wise old teddy bear who runs the IF Retirement Center in Coney Island; the film is dedicated to the actor, who died in March.

For all that, “IF” feels underbaked. Reynolds’ ability to execute slapstick routines with nonexistent partners is impressive, but he quite never finds the center of Cal, a slightly dour figure who remains unknowable. Many of the IFs seem oddly random; one is an ice cube in a drinking glass. And we never really get to know the adults who rediscover their IFs, with the exception of Bea’s grandmother (a lovely Fiona Shaw). Often, the lilting score by Michael Giacchino — a Pixar veteran — does more emotional work than Krasinski’s screenplay.

To nitpick “IF,” though, might be to miss the point. Isn’t this a story about the power of fantasy and imagination? So what if its dream world doesn’t hold together as solidly as it should? Maybe the sequel should be about a grouchy film critic who rediscovers his inner child.

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com