Remember Eddie Murphy in “48 Hours” (1982) and “Beverly Hills Cop” (1984)?   This movie is not like those movies.

Remember Eddie Murphy in “Meet Dave” (2008) and “Pluto Nash” (2002)?  Luckily, this movie is better than those movies.

In “Imagine That”, Murphy dials it down a little bit and shines in a funny father role Bill Cosby would be proud of… a touch that makes this one of his best movies in years.   I know that’s not saying much, but while Murphy had busts like “Vampire in Brookyln” (1995), “Meet Dave” (2008) and “Pluto Nash” (2002)… Cosby had bummers like ”The Meteor Man” (1993) and “Leonard Part 6″ (1987)…. but The Cos’ career is also stronger with several very succesful TV shows (”The Cosby Show”, “Fat Albert”, “I Spy”).

Eddie is still Eddie here, but just not as much of the caricature he was becoming of himself in those recent movies that neither did well at the box office or with movie fans.  Murphy is convincing and believable as the busy working dad who doesn’t have the time or patience for his young daughter.

His 7-year-old co-star, Yara Shahidi is a treat!   She grabs the scene and doesn’t let go at daughter Olivia.. she has the presence and delivery of someone twice her age… this is one of the best child perfomances of the year so far.

This movie works through a lot of parallels from beginning to end with the security blanket and the child-parent dynamics, but I’m not going to spoil it fo you, so I’ll leave it at that.

The story is good, but slightly predictable, and but the supporting cast really help develop the movie’s colorful cast of unique characters.   Thomas Haden Church (one of my favorite character actors dating back to “Wings” 1990-95 and “Tombstone” (1993)) as Murphy’s rival and Martin Sheen (too many great roles to name) as Murphy’s career idol.   The supporting child actors are also great, despite their one scene: Bobb’e J. Thompson ( “Role Models” (2008)) as a kid at the playland and Daniel Polo as the son of Thomas Haden Church.

As you might expect there’s some family-friendly language and eloquent use of the word “poop”, like this soon-to-be classic line: “poopoo doodoo stinky caca”.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

While this movie proves you can have good family comedies with a PG rating with a story that is fun and funny, it falls a little short of being a SEE NOW… I give it 6.5 out of 10 … and recommend that families RENT IT as soon as it comes out on DVD.

Eddie – We want to see you do well, we liked you on SNL, but please stick to what is working for you right now, family comedies like “Shrek” and “Daddy Daycare”… or revert back to the kind of roles twhat made you a movie star: Reggie in “48 Hrs.” (1982) and Axel Foley in “Beverly Hills Cop” (1984) !!!

 “Imagine That”

(2009) (rated: Rated PG for some mild language and brief questionable behavior)
(1 hr, 40 min?)

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Yara Shahidi, Thomas Haden Church, Nicole Ari Parker, Ronny Cox, Vanessa Williams, DeRay Davis,  Martin Sheen, James Patrick Stuart, Bobb’e J. Thompson, Daniel Polo, Charlie Koznick

Director: Karey Kirkpatrick

Genre: Family/Comedy/Drama/Fantasy

The Plot: A financial executive who can’t stop his career downspiral is invited into his daughter’s imaginary world, where solutions to his problems await.

So what did you think?  Please post a comment!

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“Imagine That” poster courtesy Nickelodeon Movies-Paramount

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