Review | Netflix movie review: The Imaginary – unimaginative animation from Japan’s Studio Ponoc
- The Imaginary follows Rudger (voiced by Kokoro Terada), an imaginary friend who is separated from his human companion Amanda (Rio Suzuki)
2/5 stars
They may address the subject matter differently, through whimsy, terror or trauma, but at the centre of each is a tale of abandonment resulting from a loss of innocence.
Yoshiyuki Momose’s animated film The Imaginary joins this growing fold of nostalgia-fuelled fantasies. Adapted from a British children’s novel by A. F. Harrold, it approaches its story from the point of view of Rudger (voiced by Kokoro Terada), a blond-haired boy visible only to a little girl named Amanda (Rio Suzuki).
Rudger’s very existence is thrown through a loop when Amanda is sent to hospital and he is magically transported to “The Town of Imaginaries”, an otherworldly realm populated entirely by invented friends who, like Rudger, have been forgotten or abandoned by their human companions.
Rudger is welcomed by the Imaginaries, most notably plucky adventurer Emily (Riisa Naka), but his path back to Amanda’s side is blocked by Mr Bunting, an evil, mustachioed human who hunts down and eats Imaginaries.
