John Krasinski’s ‘IF’ brings imaginary friends to life on 4K Ultra HD disc

Filmmaker John Krasinski’s family dramedy, answering the age-old question of whether imaginary friends exist, moves from theaters to ultra-high definition disc in IF (Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment, rated R, 109 minutes, 1:85:1 aspect ratio, $42.99).

Bea (Cailey Fleming), a 12-year-old living with her grandmother (Fiona Shaw) in New York City, lost her mother to cancer and is now dealing with her father (Mr. Krasinski) in need of heart surgery.

Her life gets very complicated when she unintentionally meets grandma’s neighbor, the grouchy Cal (Ryan Reynolds), a guy who sees abandoned imaginary friends — IFs — and helps the creatures get placed with new children.

Bea feels strongly that she can assist Cal, and he takes her for a successful job interview at Memory Lane Retirement Home for imaginary friends (underneath an amusement park in Coney Island), but she has little luck pairing buddies with new humans.

Bea realizes that their strategy might be wrong, and she and Cal might be able to pair the IFs with their original owners, leading to a selection of heartwarming reunifications.

“IF” offers a fun film burgeoning with possibilities and whimsy but struggles with odd plot holes, such as why a 12-year-old can roam around New York City unsupervised with a grandmother or father not questioning her whereabouts.

Mr. Krasinski calls in a whole bunch of favors to deliver a celebrity-packed voice-over cast for nearly two dozen imaginary friends such as Steve Carell as the purple monster Blue, Phoebe Waller-Bridge as a butterfly-like toy Blossom, Louis Gossett Jr. as the elderly teddy bear Lewis, Emily Blunt as a plush unicorn, Matt Damon as an anthropomorphic sunflower therapist and George Clooney as an astronaut action figure.

It’s worth mentioning the magical elephant in the room — the movie’s similarity to an award-winning cartoon series from the 2000s. Cartoon Network stalwarts will see some overlap with the classic Emmy-award-winning series “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends” especially the plot point of unplaced creatures living in a group home.

However, parents might offer the cartoon (now available on DVD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, $79.99) as an extended companion piece for youngsters thrilled with learning about the adventures of some other fantastical buddies that even feature a friend named Bloo.

4K in action: The ultra-high definition presentation showcases with rich clarity the beautiful blending of live action with a variety of animation styles.

Viewers can examine the detailed textures and vivid colors of anthropomorphic friends such as a talking marshmallow with its top perpetually on fire (a pre-Smores event); a floating bubble figure; a talking ice cube melting in a slightly fogged glass; a green slime blob with piercing black eyes; and a red gummy bear.

Check out when Cal emerges from a painting while moving from two-dimensional to three-dimensional realms and when Blue’s purple fur presses against the glass of a storefront.

Let’s also not forget that, with the story set in the Big Apple, viewers get some panoramic views of the skyline as well as Manhattan, Brooklyn Heights and the always colorful Coney Island.

Best extras: Viewers get five featurettes covering most aspects of the production touching on story origins; voice-over cast; shooting stand-ins dressed as the imaginary friends and then building the computer effect; the director; and shooting locations in New York City.

A bit too much fawning abounds throughout all of the featurettes as viewers are reminded by the crew and the cast that the actors are incredible, charming, magical, phenomenal, perfect, hilarious and all deliver once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

By the way, at no time do any of the lead creators mention the Cartoon Network series, which is kind of amazing due to the overlap.

Finally, the dad and son hosts of the YouTube channel “Art for Kids Hub” offer detailed instructions on how to draw, color and shade Blue.