The third feature-length movie from the Japanese anime outfit Studio Ponoc (Mary and the Witch’s Flower), The Imaginary (tailored from a kids’s e-book by AF Harrold) is a beguiling, if barely convoluted, fantasy about an imaginary good friend referred to as Rudger, who finds himself separated from Amanda, the little woman who dreamed him up. There’s a thematic parallel with John Krasinski’s live-action journey IF, however with its beautiful hand-drawn animation and undercurrent of uncanny oddness, The Imaginary (which is launched theatrically in its English language model) has extra in widespread with the output of Studio Ghibli – maybe not surprisingly, because the director, Yoshiyuki Momose, served as the important thing animator on Spirited Away and different basic Ghibli titles.
In cinemas now and on Netflix from 5 July
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