The Imaginary

 Rudger (Louie Rudge-Buchanan/Kokoro Terada) is the constant friend and companion to Amanda (Evie Kiszel/Rio Suzuki). Amanda is ten(ish) and Rudger is just three months, three weeks and three days old; That's not a problem, though, since he's just a figment of her imagination.

 The imaginary is a charming, and there's no way around it, very Studio Ghibli-esque account of a few busy days in their lives. When at home, they go on all sorts of adventures in Amanda's overactive imagination; While she's at school, Rudge whiles away the time until she gets back. He lacks all mass but is otherwise material, so he could, in theory, be crushed by a falling sheet of paper. It's tough being imaginary.

 Rudge learns just how hostile soon enough, when he learns that all humans are fated to forget their imaginary friends, and dissolve helplessly in the night. Pretty heavy stuff for a kid's film. Not that he gets a lot of time to worry about it, because soon enough Mr. Bunting (Issey Ogata/Jeremy Swift), a grotesque old man lugging around a My First J-Horror ghost, comes sniffing (literally!) around their mother's bookstore. Mr Bunting, in a wonderful, very Tim Powers-style twist, is an eater of imaginary friends, and apparently Rudge is some sort of delicacy in his estimation.

 Rudge is separated from Amanda and cast out into the very British world outside her house, a dangerous gauntlet where just walking through a crowded pavement is an ordeal (no mass, remember?). There's a few adventures, near escapes, all leading up to a tearful reunion and a final confrontation with their nemesis.

 It's messy, unevenly paced, and features some iffy design work (which I imagine comes straight from the original book's illustrations). It also often feels like it piles on the whimsy a little too thick (this is one of those movies where people's emotions are visible from the next town over). Luckily it makes up for all of that with some luscious traditional animation, gorgeous and often surprisingly weird visuals, and a story that's got deep reserves of both darkness and relatively sophisticated emotional heft.

 Things do get a little too dark, actually, for what it feels like its target audience, which it compensates with a sort of forced cheer which is sometimes distracting. This sort of botched balancing act extends to the emotional moments, which are undercut by the sheer quantity of plot that the film needs to get through.

 Still, the emotional beats are strong, and the plot does take the story to some memorable places. The finale in particular feels like a children's version of a horror movie - It pales in comparison with something like Coraline, but this feels like it skews younger; And Mr. Bunting is such a wonderful, loathsomely fun villain.

 Director Yoshiyuki Momose, writer Yoshiaki Nishimura both come from studio Ghibli, along with many of the employees from production house Ponoc's staff. They've crafted a compellingly weird, unwieldy beast of the film that's not without its problems, but is ultimately unique and very rewarding.