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I’ve spoken before about how Ryan Reynolds has done his same smart mouth, nonchalantly confident, sarcastically polite Deadpool schtick in way too many movies now. It looked from the trailer that we were going to get the same again here and it seemed that his way of preventing this becoming relentlessly samey was just to wait a bit between films. This is his first for a year and a half after the six we got in 2021 and 22.

As it is though Reynolds is actually doing something quite different here and his performance has a gentle sweetness we’ve definitely, maybe not seen since 2008’s romcom Definitely, Maybe. In fact sweet is the best way to describe this new movie. Writer/director John Krasinski has created something quite lovely here. It is a film as family oriented as his Quiet Place movies but this time in terms of audience as well as narrative. There are monsters in this too but they are the type that hug you and bury your face in their soft fur, rather than tear you to pieces and bury your face in their stomach.

Krasinski has said that his aim here was to make something akin to a live action Pixar film and I think he has largely succeeded. IF is not as sophisticated as that famous animation studio’s best work but it shares the same sensibilities and the simplicity of the storytelling works in its favour. Even Paddington had to resort to psycho taxidermists and jailbreaks and it nice to have something where the focus is more straight forward. This tale of imaginary friends left adrift after their kids grow up is just nice. It isn’t manic or loud, it doesn’t labour over sight gags and it is made with clear affection, which are all things that set it apart from the majority of children’s movies being made at the moment. It is also an original story which is another aspect that is different to almost all of Hollywood’s Summer output, family fare or otherwise.

Reynolds isn’t the star or the film either, that honour goes to sixteen year old Cailey Fleming (playing four years younger). She has a great screen presence and totally carries the movie. This really ought to be a star making performance for her, which is something when you consider she has already been in Star Wars and the MCU.

So Ryan Reynolds may return to form when he returns to cinemas in two months time (and we will have to let him play his Deadpool schtick in that movie) but for now he is giving us a moving turn in a gently endearing children’s film that may not do anything groundbreaking but still presents a nice change.