John Krasinski may still be in an early chapter as a filmmaker, but he’s already carving out a nice reputation for having a fantastic knack for fantasy. With A Quiet Place, he was able to create a sensory-deprived moviegoing experience as a distraction to explore the bounds of his fantastical horror. In his latest film IF, a much more family-friendly vehicle, Krasinski has fun with the boundless limits of the imagination.

Bea (Cailey Fleming of AMC’s The Walking Dead) visits New York City and stays with her grandmother (Fiona Shaw) while her father (Krasinski) recovers in the hospital. We later learn that dad requires surgery, which means there isn’t an official date for when Bea can return home. Even before her stay in the Big Apple, however, Bea is trying to figure herself out now that she’s getting older. Her grandmother and father like to reminisce and have fun but, as a budding teen who is still sensitive about the loss of her mother, Bea doesn’t see a reason to hang on to the past.

These heavier details about Bea’s trauma or her parents’ health are kept at a distance from the viewer, which isn’t bothersome considering all Krasinski needs are the broad strokes to create an empathetic bond between the characters and his audience. The film avoids emotional manipulation by maintaining a reassured understanding of the fantasy that Bea becomes wrapped up in. With the help of her enigmatic, wise-cracking neighbour Cal (Ryan Reynolds, doing a pretty good job to separate this role from similar characters in his catalogue), Bea is introduced to the secretive world of Imaginary Friends (or IFs for short).

While IF feels like Wonder Park deja vu, it’s more than anything a product of the 90s. That note isn’t meant to date the movie but rather suggest the type of whimsical entertainment the production successfully replicates. Despite some drifting during the middle, shifting the focus between Bea, Cal, and the star-studded vocal cast of IFs (which includes Steve Carell, Awkwafina, Bradley Cooper, Matt Damon, and George Clooney), IF provides a lighthearted and funny take on the typical coming-of-age story.

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Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie