Movie Review: The Imaginary

July 17, 2024

I need to start out by saying, I would not show this to your young children. It has some pretty spooky scenes that I for sure would have had nightmares about as a young child. That being said, if the child is a little older and is not as afraid of being afraid as I was, then I think this has a lot of really good lessons and elements.

We follow the life of a young girl named Amanda and her imaginary friend Rudger. Amanda is a very imaginative young woman who lives with her mother over the bookshop that her mother and father ran together before he passed. She and Rudger go on all kinds of adventures together until a strange man shows up at the bookshop and is literally sniffing around the place. While he is talking to Amandas mom, Lizzie, Rudger and Amanda see a creepy girl standing behind him with sunken in eyes and long dark hair. Her skin is ashy gray and she smells of decay. They quickly realize that their mother cannot see this creepy girl, and that she is imaginary just like Rudger.

This is a tale of grief and sadness and the power of love and imagination. It is about resilience and loss and friendships that will live in our hearts our whole lives long. It was created by a previous Ghibli employee that has branded off and created their own company and it is obvious, even just in the way that the characters move, that there has been a lot of inspiration taken from Studio Ghibli.

I really enjoyed this movie, and all of its creepiness. It made me cry and reflect on childhood and childlike imagination. I would suggest this lovely movie.