‘The Imaginary’: Flight of fancy could have soared even higher

The new anime film “The Imaginary,” based on the illustrated book by A.F. Harrold and Emily Gravett, depicts a world in which imaginary friends are real. I can imagine hordes of children protesting — “Of course they’re real!” — and I suppose that’s the point.

At the center of “The Imaginary” is the young Amanda Shuffleup (voiced by Rio Suzuki) and her imaginary friend Rudger (Kokoro Terada). Amanda’s after-school flights of fancy take her and Rudger through fantastic worlds populated by amazing sights, sounds and creatures. But Amanda’s worlds also contain a certain amount of darkness. We soon learn, as is often the case with imaginary friends, that Rudger was born as a response to trauma: the sudden death of Amanda’s father.

Also adjusting to this new reality is Amanda’s mother (Sakura Ando), who’s dealing with both her own grief and the unpredictable Amanda, whose near obsession with Rudger has her worried.

Adults, after all, can’t see imaginary friends, or “imaginaries.” That is, most adults. The exception is Mr. Bunting (Issey Ogata), a Hawaiian shirt-wearing creep who has a taste for imaginaries (he sucks them into his gullet like a vacuum) and who has his eye set on Rudger as his next meal. When he and Amanda become separated, Rudger must team up with a group of fellow lost imaginaries to get back to Amanda and save the day.

This is the second feature film from the animation studio Ponoc, founded in 2015 by former Studio Ghibli producer Yoshiaki Nishimura, who also wrote the screenplay for this film. Staffed with Ghibli alumni, including “The Imaginary” director Yoshiyuki Momose, Ponoc is clearly aiming to take on the mantle of that legendary studio by producing adaptations of fantasy novels for children and young adults, kind of like “Kiki’s Delivery Service” or “Howl’s Moving Castle.” Ponoc’s goal has been slightly complicated by the fact that Ghibli is less dormant than it seemed in 2015, having released “The Boy and the Heron” earlier this year.

The proximity doesn’t do “The Imaginary” any favors: Compared to “Heron,” the breathtaking return of Hayao Miyazaki, this film feels a bit uneven. There’s a lot going on, with few moments to catch your breath. Much time is spent explaining what happens when an imaginary and its “owner” are separated, but the rules feel overly complicated and ultimately have little bearing on the narrative. Some of the vocal performances, like Ogata’s Mr. Bunting and a talking hippo, are gratingly over the top. Takayuki Yamada’s understated take on talking cat Jinzan was much appreciated, but the character didn’t have much to do in this overstuffed production.

Still, “The Imaginary” has some poignant moments. The relationship between Amanda and her mother, loving but strained since the death of Amanda’s father, feels intensely real. You can feel sympathy with both sides: Amanda’s retreat into her fantasy world is entirely understandable, as is her mother’s growing frustration and sense of isolation. It’s admirable to see an animated film aimed at a young audience deal with death and grief in such a nuanced way.

The film is also a visual treat, with great picture book-like pastels, fluidity to spare and unique character designs that land somewhere between traditional anime and Gravett’s original illustrations.

“The Imaginary,” like Ponoc’s first feature, 2017’s “Mary and the Witch’s Flower,” plays it safe with its faux-Ghibli formula, and the result is a good-looking, sometimes moving picture. But with the talent the studio has at its disposal, I hope they really let their imaginations run wild on the next one.