‘The Imaginary’ Review – Netflix Does Its Best Studio Ghibli Impression

The big picture

• The imaginary
  The team at Studio Ponoc, many of whom have ties to Studio Ghibli, create an original, visually stunning and emotional animated film.
• The film expertly balances whimsical, terrifying and heartfelt moments, offering a unique and captivating viewing experience.
• The film's near-perfect ending brings emotion and art together, leaving viewers with a poignant and resonant conclusion.

If it's the new Netflix animated movie The imaginary it reminds you of some of the works of Studio Ghibli (although it actually comes from Studio Ponoc), there's a good reason for that. In other words, the film is directed by the veteran animator Yoshiyuki Momose WHO previously worked in films like The grave of the fireflies, Porco Rosso, and, yes, even tucked away. In addition, it is also written by the former producer of Studio Ghibli Yoshiaki Nishimura who founded Studio Ponoc in 2015. So if you have a sense of déjà vu and the feeling that you've seen it before, with tucked away feel more connected to what is unfolding here, that the story sinks into the depths of everyone who worked on this project. This is something that is not a criticism per se, but rather a necessary early recognition of where his visions, both artistic and thematic, were born. Like its central character, there is a lot in its past.

The key to what makes it work is that there is nothing The imaginary it feels derivative. Rather, it features what looks like some really great inspiration points. Even when he can't reach the same heights every time in isolation, the overall picture he paints is poetic and playful that you'd like to lose yourself in. It's a beautifully animated work that manages to hold its own, finding plenty of heartfelt yet still surprisingly horrifying imagery in its imaginative world. Of course, its premise may also seem similar to this year's YES, but the care with which it is developed is what makes it so much greater than that. It's unlikely you'll see an animated movie on the streamer that's as amazing as this one, even if hopefully it can still get a proper theatrical release. However, wherever you end up seeing it, it's worth seeking out and opening every corner of your imagination to it.

What is 'The Imaginary' about?

Based on the 2014 children's novel of the same name by AF Harrold and accompanying illustrations Emily Gravettfocuses on young Rudger (Louie Rudge-Buchanan) who is Amanda's imaginary friend (Evie Kiszel). In a first opening scene, we are immersed in the wonder of the worlds they inhabit together. Each of them is endlessly impressive, just as the real one they will inevitably have to return to has many challenges in boxing them out. Namely, the charming bookstore run by Amanda's mother, Lizzie (Hayley Atwell) is in danger of closing. That doesn't stop the young friends from having adventures together in their imagined worlds, with a delightfully humorous opening scene that sees them disagree on a very important name for a creature they create, but soon the dark forces of reality they will come to play in the form of a menacing man who has a specific interest in Rudger. He is accompanied by a terrifying imaginary girl, who he feels could be Samara The ringthe younger sister of, and wants to consume the child. After a crisis that separates him from Amanda, Rudger will have to navigate a fantastic world and find his way back to his friend while staying out of the clutches of the man who follows him.

Any further discussion of what happens, especially around what it was that brought Rudger into existence in the first place, is best left to the film, as there are many joyful discoveries to be made find in the same way that there are more reflective and gloomy ones. Even when it comes a little too close to falling into the weird trend in animation where magic becomes something more like mundane business, it dances smartly and launches itself into infinitely more spectacular scenes from the outer limits. space in the space between spaces. at times, it almost feels like an echo in some ways of the superb 2001 film Actress of the millennium jump through his scenes.

Even when The imaginary it can get a little tied up in over-explaining parts of how their world works, still finds plenty of powerful emotional payoff when it leaves all that behind and lets us feel how it all comes together. Whether it's after that space trip where a character gets a chance to start over or the whole final act where Rudger has to reinvent himself to find Amanda, it's really wonderful stuff. Even when you feel like looking further into this imaginary world, the fact that we always have to come back to reality is the point. As much as we want to leave the world behind completely, it's the things that bind Rudger together that provide the emotional grounding points that give the film weight when everything comes crashing down.

'The Imaginary' has an almost perfect ending

Without warning, the end of this journey is where the film puts you in the shot for the last time. You get wrapped up in the whimsy of it all just before it all hits you like a truck, finding plenty of resonant emotional flashbacks that contextualize and deepen the experience just in time for the conclusion. When supplemented with some bold changes, both narratively in terms of a late reveal and formally in the vibrant fusion of animation styles, it builds on a smaller scale in the same way that it's expansively groundbreaking. Everything fits together perfectly, a demonstration of how the fusion of art and emotion in this thing we call cinema can create an experience unlike anything else. You'd be hard-pressed to imagine a better proof of that in sleek, gorgeous action than the stunning final frames you'll see here.

The imaginary screened at the Annecy Film Festival 2024. It is available to stream on Netflix in the US from July 5.

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