MOVIE REVIEW
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Imagine That Charms
Murphy, 7-year-old co-star show acting chops
By Matt Cantor
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Posted Jun 12, 09 12:21 PM CDT
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(Newser)
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Imagine That delivers great performances in a decent family package, with Eddie Murphy hitting his stride alongside a charismatic new star:
- “For the first time since The Nutty Professor, Eddie Murphy successfully mixes his adult and kid-film personas—imagine that,” writes Joe Neumaier in the New York Daily News.
- “Charming” 7-year-old Yara Shahidi is “a natural,” never “trying to be ‘cute,’” observes Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times.
- “The shiny, family-friendly trifle proves funny and charming, at least until the ‘is-that-all-there-is?’ of it kicks in,” Gary Goldstein writes in the Los Angeles Times. “Eddie Murphy gives this uneven effort a reason for being.”
- The film shows “surprising emotional intelligence” but “seems to miss the mark in terms of who it thinks its audience will be," says Marshall Fine of the Huffington Post. "It's not silly enough for the 8-year-old audience or smart-aleck enough for tweens.”