At first glance, The Imaginary might look like it has come right out of Japan's legendary Studio Ghibli. The reality is that the movie is similar in style but comes from a rival studio, Studio Ponoc – and has managed to be a massive hit. Think Disney and back-in-the-day Pixar.
What does span both animation studio greats is one director, Yoshiaki Nishimura, who famously directed Ghibli's Spirited Away hit. He appears to have a magic touch as, once again, he has given us a movie that has Rotten Tomatoes' tomatometer pulsing: its rare 91 per cent score is complemented by an equally impressive 90 per cent audience score.
