This film is by no means new as it was released in 2009. It only recently popped up on Netflix. Despite the fact that this movie lost a TON of money I found it to be a decent film and recommend watching it.
It was released during a time when Eddie Murphy films were more likely to get nominated for Golden Raspberries (awards you don't want) than they were to make money. Because of this propensity towards losses at the theater, studios were very stand-offish about hiring Murphy but Nickelodeon took a $55 million gamble and paid the price when the film failed to make even half of that back.
The story is that Evan Danielson (Murphy) is a very successful businessman in the financial world who has very little time for his daughter and now ex-wife because of his devotion to his job
This aspect of the movie is extremely unoriginal but whatever. His daughter, Olivia (played by the absolutely adorable Yara Shahidi) is eccentric and continually talks to her imaginary friends. Of course everyone just assumes that this is some kiddie-stuff that the adults mostly ignore because Olivia is just "going through a phase."
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She communicates with her imaginary friends via this blanket
One day while she is with with her father at work, she is in imagination-land while her father is talking about companies he is analyzing as recommendations for clients to invest in. She tells her father that her imaginary friends don't like certain companies, but really like one of them. He ignores this information but it turns out that her assessment of the various companies, although spoken in baby-talk, was spot-on correct.
The rest of the film is spent with Evan attempting to channel his daughter's imaginary friends for more financial advice. The answers he receives from her playland friends is always correct.
I feel as though Eddie performs better in his serious roles because the world is kind of sick of his comedy after 20 years of him essentially playing the same characters. However, there are a few moments where he acts just like one of "The Klumps" and I feel this is something that Eddie struggles to break away from.
The dramatic acting is pretty nicely done though and there is an endearing story about family in there as well. I'll admit i got "misty-eyed" a few times.
Also, the addition of "Johnny Whitefeather," a pseudo-Native-American who is a rival financial adviser was pretty hilarious and also a bit edgy for a Nickelodeon film (there would probably be picket lines and boycotts over this role if it was done today.)
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I've enjoyed Thomas Haden-Church since his time as "Lowel" on Wings
from the MovieClips official channel
Maybe you have to be in the right mood but I enjoy a touching family movie from time to time. Had I simply looked at critic reviews of this before watching it I likely would have passed this one by. However, i had never even heard of it when it popped up on my Netflix menu and was actually a bit surprised to see that it was ripped to shreds by the professional reviewers.
Especially if you have young people in your family I think this one is a winner and I didn't look at my phone at all while it was on. It gets the thumbs up from me
My overall rating!
