The Imaginary
Rudger, Amanda’s imaginary friend, is forgotten and must learn to live with the other forgotten imaginary friends and evade the clutches of a strange man seeking to consume him.
Toy Story meets Spirited Away, and I’m not referencing the latter because Studio Ponoc was related to Studio Ghibli. This was honestly more British than Japanese, and not because of its setting or the English voice actors. There was something very “across the pond” about its telling that made it that way. The surname of “Shufflup” screams British metro ne’er-do-well to me, and “Bunting” is plainly English as can be. There was a reference Mr. Bunting made to the bird, but buntings of all types exist worldwide, so that doesn’t determine anything. This might’ve been because of the localization and translation; I didn’t bother checking the Japanese-language version. Also, there were a few black characters in the background and semi-background, and Japan is fairly monolithic, and even so, it’s doubtful they would make it into one of their movies.
This movie came very close to hitting the mark for me, but I got lost in the complicated logic of the imaginaries’ world. Scratch that—the rules weren’t so much logically complex as it was requiring too much exposition that slowed things down. The beauty of Spirited Away was that every weird thing happening required only a brief ad-hoc explanation (“Yubaba captured your name, so she controls you now…”), or no explanation at all. We don’t know why Chihiro had to hold her breath while crossing the bridge to the bathhouse, we just know the consequences if she doesn’t. We don’t need to know why No Face doesn’t have a face, nor do we need to know why the water spirit gave Chihiro an ipecac nugget as a gift for cleaning him properly, nor why Boh is so large for a baby, or why he can talk. That’s just how things work in the spirit realm.
I would have simplified the logic for the imaginaries: if Imaginaries are forgotten, they disappear. They live as long as the person who created them remembers them, or they can live on if the person survives in some other fashion, like books, architecture, paintings or sculptures, or even a business or an idea. The script does embrace this simple logic, but it complicates matters with borders and who sees who and dying (!!!) if they die inside of an imagination scene (this isn’t the Matrix or Sword Art Online, nor should it be). So that means most of the imaginaries Rudger (not Roger) sees in the library would be connected to something noteworthy. We already saw Shakespeare’s imaginary, and we’d also see the imaginaries of other famous figures, but it would be a good opportunity for the story to explore the imaginaries of the “common man,” like the imaginary of an ordinary parent who started a family tradition that persisted for generations after him. There was also another opportunity for Rudger to become more of mover and shaker if Amanda’s in a coma. He could be the one to “reach in” and bring her out of it—
Despite the tedious rules and expositions, they left out any explanation of Mr. Bunting’s origins. I would think the imaginaries would want to eke out his history if they were going to fight him at all, or at least avoid him. Make him an imaginary of a malicious historical figure—the bad guy doesn’t have to be named, but please, no Hitler. I am exasperated to tears encountering comparisons to that guy, still. You know what? Let’s not name anyone as Bunting’s origin human. We can just say he’s the imaginary friend of someone long ago whos bad ideas continue to live on. Giving more specifics is just going to be a distraction.
Relatedly, and not to dive too deep into plot holes, but one thing bothered me that was crucial to the story continuing. All of the library imaginaries never heard of Mr. Bunting, despite Zimzam encountering him with Rudger, and possibly before that incident. Zimzam, by his own words, was a guardian imaginary, and he didn’t bother to tell anyone inside the library that there was a serial imaginary killer lurking around and that they should be somewhat careful? Also, why did Bunting’s imaginary sacrifice herself out of the blue? Was it an accident or did she suddenly switch allegiances without telling anyone?
Let’s end on a positive note. Wonderful animation style, much like Ponoc’s Mary and the Witch’s Flower. I have a really hard time believing this was hand drawn, because some of the transitions, like the scene where Amanda and Rudger imagine that winter sled in one of the opening scenes, looked too detailed. Maybe it was mixed media, but it was hard to tell which was which. Additionally, I dislike voiceovers, especially in children’s movies, but the English voice actor for Rudger, Louie Rudge-Buchanan, was too darn perfect for the role that I didn’t mind it. It certainly helps that his voiceover lines both in the beginning and end were well-written, and was even a welcome way of telling, as opposed to showing, some of his origin story in a movie filled with too much explanation to begin with.