This Pixar-ish fable by John Krasinski falls a little short of the films it resembles.

| Jun 24, 2024

Bright, imaginative and visually charming with wonderful creature designs, IF wears its very big heart on its sleeve.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 7, 2024

I am slightly iffy about IF.

| May 30, 2024

There’s a cartoonish side for the kids and a nostalgia tug for adults. It has a decent twist at the end and the final credits sequence, which includes the invisible Keith, is worth hanging around for.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 28, 2024

Every beat of IF is writ large, making for an unnatural viewing experience, one where charming moments are frustratingly loud, drowning out the film as a whole.

| Original Score: D+ | May 20, 2024

Despite a star-studded voice cast and a terrific lead in Cailey Fleming, this big-hearted animation-live action hybrid doesn’t feel magical like the Pixar films it aspires to emulate.

| May 20, 2024

Mostly the filmmakers detour, decorate and digitize their story rather than telling it, and that doesn't mesh well with the real-world stuff.

| May 20, 2024

It’s more than possible that, like its imaginary menagerie of creatures, the film is destined to fade from memory and disappear. But IF is an engaging kid-pleaser that celebrates the power of imagination.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 20, 2024

The most charitable read on John Krasinski’s IF is that using your imagination shouldn’t be bound by traditional story structure, so why should a film about unfettered imagination need the same?

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 19, 2024

IF reminds us how certain key ingredients — charm, wit, clarity, emotional tact and resonance — cannot be willed into narrative existence, or fixed in post.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | May 19, 2024

The storytelling of “IF” itself is a mess: a heartfelt but dramatically inert endeavor that whipsaws between tones ranging from whimsical to morose.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 18, 2024

Sweet and sincere, though not the heart-squeezer it could have been.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 17, 2024

IF is an imaginary friend that’s best left unseen.

| May 17, 2024

This well-intentioned and intermittently clever blend of live action and animation is so murky and slow-paced the grown-ups will get restless, while it falls short when it comes to creating truly memorable CGI characters and providing a true sense of joy.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 17, 2024

Simultaneously exploits childhood grief while cloyingly indulging the inner child of grown-ups.

| May 17, 2024

This undercooked family comedy weeper from writer-director John Krasinski seems stuck in script development mode, like no one knew what to do with it past its title.

| Original Score: C+ | May 17, 2024

By movie’s end, one can imagine more than one adult in the multiplex running home, checking under the bed, hoping to find a trusted old friend.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 16, 2024

Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than sugar, sucralose is 600 times sweeter than sugar, and “IF” is considerably sweeter than either. Chemically if not cinematically, it’s noteworthy. A drop of it would sweeten a swimming pool of coffee.

| May 16, 2024

Any fantasy world, no matter how elaborate, can be made to work if it’s constructed along logical lines with a consistent set of customs and conventions, but this one leaves too many questions unanswered.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 16, 2024

What’s more impressive: Krasinski’s imagination or the very real friends in his Rolodex?

| May 16, 2024