Imaginary, The

Story

Amanda (voice of Evie Kiszel) lives with her mother, Lizzie (Hayley Atwell), following the recent death of her father. Amanda has a vivid imagination and an imaginary friend, Rudger (Louie Rudge-Buchanan). Amanda and Rudger go on many adventures together across oceans, through the sky and to other lands.

No-one else can see Rudger, but villainous Mr Bunting (Jeremy Swift) can smell him. Mr Bunting and a creepy girl who accompanies him threaten Amanda and Rudger.

After an unfortunate event, Rudger becomes separated from Amanda and is at risk of disappearing. This is what happens to all imaginary friends when their creator no longer needs them. Rudger is saved from disappearing by a cat called Zinzan (Karl Penn), who takes him to a library, which is inhabited by Imaginaries who are no longer needed. The Imaginaries work and play there until some of them are lucky enough to be wanted by a human again. Rudger, however, is determined not to give up on Amanda.

Themes

Fantasy; loss of a parent; imaginary friends

Violence

The Imaginary has some violence. For example:

Characters fall from a plane into the ocean but are saved by birds.
Amanda throws a toy inflatable shark at Rudger when she’s upset by a memory of her father.
Amanda hits Mr Bunting with her bag.
A main character is hit by a car and appears to be dead.
Emily, an Imaginary, drives a bus into Mr Bunting and knocks him down.
Emily attacks the creepy girl, and they fight.
Mr Bunting pretends to shoot a gun at Emily, who’s injured. She disintegrates.
Rudger smashes into a car’s windscreen.
A fight occurs in the hospital room when Mr Bunting and the creepy girl enter Amanda’s room. Bunting tries to eat Rudger again and nearly succeeds. The creepy girl envelops Amanda in a black shroud as Amanda tries to regain consciousness. A large snake appears and wraps itself around Amanda.

Sexual references

There are no sexual references in The Imaginary.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

The Imaginary shows some use of substances. For example, Lizzie drinks beer.

Nudity and sexual activity

There’s no nudity and sexual activity in The Imaginary.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in The Imaginary.

Coarse language

There’s some mild coarse language in The Imaginary, including ‘shut up’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

The Imaginary is an animated fantasy movie about children’s imaginations, which can be vivid and comforting, but also frightening.

Unfortunately, the distinction between the imaginary and the real world isn’t clear in this movie, and young children are likely to be quite frightened by it. It also involves the loss of a parent, which might be distressing. The Imaginary is therefore not suitable for children under 8 years, and we recommend parental guidance for children aged up to 8-9 years.

These are the main messages from The Imaginary:

Protect those close to you.
Libraries are great places to explore imaginary worlds.

Values in The Imaginary that you could reinforce with your children include loyalty, friendship, courage, determination, steadfastness and care for others.

The Imaginary could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues like the following:

Imaginary villains – they aren’t real, and children don’t need to be afraid of them.
Death of a parent – this is always hard, and it’s important to tune in to children’s fears and feelings.