IF
IF is a warm, imaginative story about a girl who can see abandoned imaginary friends, wrapped around a genuinely tender storyline about parental illness and grief. The whimsy and colorful characters are a delight, but the emotional weight is real and sits closer to a film like Up than a breezy animated adventure.
Great for kids around 6 and up who are ready for stories that mix big feelings with big fun; very sensitive younger children may need a grown-up snuggled close.
If you’d rather skip
An Up-style montage shows Bea's happy family life ending with her mother's illness and death in a hospital; this is the most emotionally heavy sequence in the film and sets the tone for Bea's grief.
A few scenes show mysterious large creatures moving in shadows before the imaginary friends are properly introduced; one involves a very large imaginary friend emerging from a child's closet, which resolves warmly but may briefly startle young viewers.
Bea's father is in hospital facing heart surgery throughout the story; the outcome is not resolved until near the end, creating a gentle but persistent undercurrent of worry.