IMAGINE THAT
IMAGINE THAT should do much to take the albatross of bad movies past from around the neck of Eddie Murphy. He’s teamed up with just about the most adorable child actor to come along since Dakota Fanning and his sometimes infantile shtick has found a compatible match. She is Yara Shahidi playing Olivia the daughter of Evan (Murphy) a commodities broker constantly upstaged in front of clients by the neo nutty first nations psycho babble of his recent arch rival Johnny Whitefeather (a seemingly miscast but ultimately spot on Thomas Haden Church who never the less rises to the challenge). Evan is so wrapped up in climbing the last few rungs up the corporate ladder that his family takes a back seat - that is until he discovers that Olivia’s imaginary friends have a crystal ball view of the stock market. Their playful ventures to seek havens for venture capital start the bonding between father and daughter. There’s a certain freshness to the script and a minimum of clichés that are so easy to fall into with this type of family fare and they resisted adding the compulsory love interest for Evan which leaves the story to develop fully between father and daughter. A palatable movie starring Eddie Murphy – imagine that!