But when Olivia joins Evan at the office, the "insights" of her magical world underneath the Goo-Ga end up helping her Dad a great deal. In order to get these top-notch stock prognostications his boss is raving about, Evan has to learn what pleases the princesses and the queen. Turns out a few silly songs and childish dances will keep the magical world's dragons placated, while providing an opportunity for father and daughter to bond in the process.

Adding another layer of goofiness, not to mention the requisite tension, to the proceedings is a subplot involving Evan's arch rival at work, Whitefeather (a hilarious Thomas Haden Church). With equally unorthodox methods for dispelling financial advice to investors, Whitefeather prefers pseudo-Native American wisdom, which certainly makes those boring meetings in the conference room a little more interesting with all his cawing and nature talk.

With Evan's star is on the rise, thanks to the Goo-Ga, the queen and the princesses, Whitefeather is determined to find the source of Evan's newfound financial insight. Hiring a coworker to follow Evan's every move, Whitefeather eventually discovers that all Evan is doing is hanging out with his daughter. And her purple blanket.

While the story could've easily veered into that cloyingly sappy territory that many movies of this ilk do, Imagine That actually manages to avoid most of that. Thanks to a fresh script and the dynamic pairing of Murphy and Shahidi—a duo very believable as father and daughter—the scenes are further accentuated with a happy-go-lucky soundtrack of apropos Beatles' covers. That said, the flick's ultimate joy comes from seeing the once-fractured relationship between father and daughter gradually grow into something meaningful. And unlike your average sitcom, the transformation didn't happen in 27-ish minutes, which ultimately makes watching it play out all the more fulfilling.

All that from a family movie starring Eddie Murphy? Yeah, can't say I would've imagined that either.

CAUTIONS:

• Drugs/Alcohol:  None—just a child ingesting mass amounts of Red Bull in one scene.
• Language/Profanity:  Two minor expletives, and a couple of exclamations of God's name.
• Sex/Nudity:  None.
• Violence:  There are plenty of bumps and spills meant for comedic effect. The "brief questionable behavior" is conducted when Evan speeds and runs numerous red lights in an effort to make it to his daughter's play. There's also a scene where Evan breaks into his daughters' friends house during a slumber party in order to retrieve the magic blanket.
• Religion:  Evan and Olivia say a blessing before eating their dinner.

Christa Banister is a full-time freelancer writer, specializing in music, movies and books-related reviews and interviews and is the author of two novels, Around the World in 80 Dates and Blessed Are the Meddlers. Based in St. Paul, Minn., she also weighs in on various aspects of pop culture on her personal blog. 

For more information, including her upcoming book signings and sample chapters of her novels, check out her Website.