Imagine That (film)

Imagine That
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Karey Kirkpatrick
Produced by	Lorenzo di Bonaventura Ed Solomon
Written by	Ed Solomon Chris Matheson
Starring	Eddie Murphy Thomas Haden Church Nicole Ari Parker Ronny Cox Martin Sheen
Music by	Mark Mancina
Cinematography	John Lindley
Edited by	David Moritz
Production company	Nickelodeon Movies Di Bonaventura Pictures Goldcrest Pictures Internationale Filmproduktion Stella-del-Sud Third
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	June 12, 2009 (2009-06-12)
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$55 million
Box office	$22,985,194

Imagine That is a 2009 American comedy film starring Eddie Murphy. Imagine That takes place in Denver, Colorado, (which can be identified by the skyline and landmarks). It centers on the relationship between a workaholic father (Eddie Murphy), and his daughter, Olivia (Yara Shahidi), whose imaginary world becomes the solution to her father's success. Among the cast is veteran actor Ronny Cox who last starred with Eddie Murphy in his blockbuster series, Beverly Hills Cop. This film received mixed to negative reviews from critics and Murphy was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor for his work in the film.

The film is a co-production between Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies. Because Hotel for Dogs was released by DreamWorks instead of Paramount, Paramount reunited with Nickelodeon Movies to co-produce the film.

Plot

Evan Danielson (Eddie Murphy) is a very successful financial advisor, who had been working at the same securities firm for eight years as their top account manager, that is until Johnny Whitefeather (Thomas Haden Church) was hired as his rival. Whitefeather seems to have the whole company under some spell as he spiels his nonsensical idioms filled with Native American mumbo jumbo. These top executives seem more content with chanting Indian style noises rather than listen to how they can make money through sound investments. When Evan finally discovers that his daughter, Olivia (Yara Shahidi), is somehow able to tell the future within the financial world by using her 'goo-gaa' comfort blanket and her imaginary friends (Queen Qwali and Princesses Kupida, Sopida and Mopida), he discovers he has an invaluable upper hand now at the office.

In order for Evan to ask these imaginary friends any question he must travel through the imaginary world, through a dense forest, past a dragon, through caves, and even walk through France. Before, Evan who is a part-time father really had no time for his daughter, now is forced to play with her and by her rules. After only a couple of days with her, he rediscovers the inner child within himself and genuinely has a lot of fun playing these imaginary games with Olivia.

Whitefeather becomes suspicious and begins to search for Evan's secret. When he finds out that Evan was just playing with a blanket, he purchased a six thousand dollar blanket and forces his son to tell him the "future" and making him extremely hyperactive by making him drink many cans of Red Bull.

Whitefeather and Evan are now competing for the position of heading the Western division of the company D.D.E. In order to be prepared for the most important presentation of his life, Evan must once again invoke the use of the Goo-Gaa blanket and meet up with the princesses. The only problem is that Olivia is spending the night at her friends house, and there is no way for Evan to obtain the Goo-Gaa without taking it from her. Also, the presentations will be held on the day of Olivia's class play. Evan manages to get Olivia to give him the Goo-Gaa, but she is soon seen crying because he seems to care only about the blanket, not her. Evan returns home and tries to get the princesses' attention. Evan then starts working on his presentation. As hours pass, he stretches, and the Goo-Gaa falls on the floor, but he continues working without noticing. Evan decides to go to the presentation instead of Olivia's class play. Johnny gives his presentation, but his idea is too crazy for the owner of the company. Then it's Evan's turn. When he is about to present, he suddenly decides to go to Olivia's class play, and leaves the presentation. As he drives over, he changes into his king costume. Back at the class play, Olivia is about to sing her solo part, then all of a sudden Evan appears dressed as a king, and Olivia starts singing, delighted to see him. After the class play, Evan starts talking to Olivia about how sorry he is for misusing her blanket, not caring about her, and for using the princesses for the wrong reason. Meanwhile the owner of the company, D.D.E. appears, and wants to talk to Evan. He and Evan talk, and he decides to give the position to Evan because of how much Evan cares about his family. Evan accepts. Evan goes back to Olivia, for whom it is time to say good-bye to the princesses. They both start waving, and as a gust of wind blows, some leaves form into the shape of a person then fly off into the sky. Evan, Olivia's mother, and Olivia leave happy.

Cast

• Eddie Murphy as Evan Danielson
• Thomas Haden Church as Johnny Whitefeather
• Yara Shahidi as Olivia Danielson
• Marin Hinkle as Ms. Davis
• Ronny Cox as Tom Stevens
• Stephen Rannazzisi as Noah Kulick
• Nicole Ari Parker as Trish
• DeRay Davis as John Strother
• Vanessa A. Williams as Lori Strother
• Martin Sheen as Dante D'Enzo
• Lauren Weedman as Rose
• Heidi Marnhout as Cheryl Whitefeather
• Stephen Root as Fred Franklin
• Jonathan Mangum as Franklin's Associate
• Mike Vorhaus as Franklin's Associate 1

Music

The score to Imagine That was composed by Mark Mancina, who had previously worked with director Karey Kirkpatrick on Over the Hedge. He recorded his score with an 83-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Sony Scoring Stage.

The film soundtrack features several covers of Beatles songs, such as "Got to Get You into My Life", "Nowhere Man", and two different versions of "Here Comes the Sun", while the song "All You Need Is Love" plays a part in the film's plot.

Box office

On its opening weekend, the film opened #6 grossing $5,503,519 in 3,008 theaters with an $1,830 average. As of August 9, 2009, the film has grossed $22,985,194 worldwide, making this a box office bomb. This opened similar to Eddie Murphy's previous summer movie, Meet Dave, which also had a lackluster opening week. However, Meet Dave received worse reviews than Imagine That.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 40% of critics gave positive reviews based on 116 reviews with an average score of 5.1/10. Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average of 53% based on 22 reviews.

Awards and nominations

Award	Category	Nominee	Result
30th Golden Raspberry Awards	Worst Actor	Eddie Murphy	Nominated
	Worst Actor of the Decade		Won
2010 Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress	Yara Shahidi	Nominated

Home media

Imagine That was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on October 13, 2009.

External links

• Official website
• Imagine That at IMDb
• Imagine That at Box Office Mojo
• Imagine That at Rotten Tomatoes
• Imagine That at Metacritic
• Imagine That at AllMovie