BY MAGGIE SCOTT
\n Forget Jim Cramer; forget Tim Geithner. All you really need to make a killing on the stock market today is a little girl with three imaginary friends and a magic “securities” blanket. <\/p>\n
Nickelodean Movies and director Karey Kirkpatrick have brought comedian Eddie Murphy back to family movies as the father of that special little girl in the comedy, Imagine That. Although he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in a genre that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pretty much been done to death, Murphy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got something new to show us with his modulated zanies and matured dramatic chops. <\/p>\n
We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen this character before: The driven professional who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d rather face a performance review at work than face pancake-flipping at home. <\/p>\n
We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen the situation before: Financial analyst Evan Danielson (Murphy) is divorced and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s creating “underlying issues” for his seven-year-old daughter Olivia (Yara Shahidi) and for his ex-wife Trish (Nicole Ari Parker). <\/p>\n
For Olivia the issue is getting her hard-charging father to back away from his computer and smart phone and just be her dad. For Trish the issue is getting Evan to make the work of parenthood as important as the work at Smite Stevens. She has no problem letting Evan know he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s messing up. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a different story for Olivia, who can only give her dad The Stare of silent accusation and to keep a tight grip on her little blue blanket (known as The Goo Gah). That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s causing an issue for Olivia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s teacher, who is trying not to make Olivia the exception when it comes to students being forbidden to bring personal items to school. <\/p>\n
The issue for Evan is the blanket. Every attempt to separate Olivia from it brings on a high-pitched scream. And, then there are the imaginary friends she talks to in a loud whisper while she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got the blanket pulled over her head. This “gets to” Evan, who confesses to Trish he thinks their kid is “intimidating.” And, it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help when Olivia extends her fixation on her make-believe world of princesses by saying the new man in Mom\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life “looks like Prince Charming.” <\/p>\n
Evan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s difficulties with Olivia couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be happening at a worse time. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got a rival at work who could scuttle his chances for a promotion. A rival who appears to be tapped into another dimension. <\/p>\n
Johnny Whitefeather (Thomas Haden Church) has been snatching accounts out from under Evan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nose with a dazzling display of what Evan would call a lot of hot air hooey laced with bogus Native American philosophy on the order of, “Sometimes the best spear is the one you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t throw.” To some company CEO\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s seeking guidance on where to invest their money, this is “fresh stuff.” To Evan it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s “Dr. Seuss meets Pocahontas” stuff. Evan needs a new spear, and he gets it, when he discovers that Olivia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s imaginary friends are not just princesses, but financial wizards who have uncannily accurate thumbs up, thumbs down royal decrees on companies Evan and Johnny are at odds over when it comes to recommendations for crucial clients. <\/p>\n
Suddenly, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing more important to Evan than Olivia and her blankie; and if he has to spin around with the Goo Gah on his head, or sing like a frog to lull the princesses\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 dragon to sleep, then he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll do it. But, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s made an enemy out of Johnny who isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sure whether Evan has “accessed a higher eye,” or is “buying the trout at the store” (his folksy analogy for insider trading). <\/p>\n
The rivalry will culminate in a winner-take-all presentation for Dante D\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Enzo (Martin Sheen), the Donald Trump-like boss of financial giant DDE. <\/p>\n
Screenwriters Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson keep the story moving and focused: not giving into the imagined need to give Evan a love interest or Olivia a puppy to appeal to fan and parental expectations. <\/p>\n
Church is flat-out hysterical with his shaman shenanigans and idiotic incantations. Best of all, is Murphy tapping into his experience of fatherhood to really connect with his young (and adorable) co-star; and, at one point making this reviewer see in Murphy more than a touch of Cary Grant. <\/p>\n
A Paramount Pictures release, rated PG for mild language.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BY MAGGIE SCOTT Forget Jim Cramer; forget Tim Geithner. All you really need to make a killing on the stock market today is a little girl with three imaginary friends and a magic “securities” blanket. Nickelodean Movies and director Karey Kirkpatrick have brought comedian Eddie Murphy back to family movies as the father of that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n