There's nothing more foreign to kids than the mysterious world of grown-ups. Some adults are similarly stymied by children and how they find even the most trivial things absolutely fascinating. Although attempting to bridge this gap of the ages, Imagine That is a painful disappointment. Like star Eddie Murphy's more recent vehicles, it's a movie that could have been really good -- if only the gods of creativity took a little more time to shepherd its premise into fruition. 

Murphy plays Evan Danielson, your textbook workaholic dad. Evan has come to care more about his job at an investment firm than his family, which includes his abnormally precocious daughter Olivia (Yara Shahidi). The perpetually frazzled Evan gets custody of Olivia for a week when he's already being pitted against an ambitious rival (Thomas Haden Church) at the office, only to learn that, like a pint-sized Transformer, there's more to his tyke than meets the eye. After retreating into her own imaginary world, Olivia comes out with some investment tips for her dad that, amazingly, are right on the money. It doesn't take long for Evan to realize what a gold mine his daughter has become, and he quickly starts climbing the ladder of success as a result of her predictions. Evan once again begins drifting from his fatherly duties and is ultimately forced to choose what's more important: his career or his clan.

Usually with family films, the trouble involves  incorporating so much material for the kids, their parents are left with little reason to stay and watch. Imagine That goes one better and alienates practically every single member of the audience. To an extent, youngsters will get a kick out of Murphy's antics, which range from doing a goofy dance in public to eating the most ghastly pancakes known to man. But whenever ol' Eddie isn't mugging for the camera, chances are the children will be bored to tears by the story, which director Karey Kirkpatrick doesn't even try to relate to them. What six-year-old is going to give a box of Goobers over whether or not Evan lands that big promotion at the firm? Who in the film's target audience has the slightest idea of what investing actually is? 

On the other hand, those adults hoping for Imagine That to provide any moments of insight will end up feeling equally shortchanged. There's nothing here that dozens of other likeminded and formula-driven family romps haven't mulled already (and, on that note, with more resonance). It's a real shame, since Kirkpatrick is one of the more talented people currently working in the children's genre. Having directed the zippy Over the Hedge and written everything from The Spiderwick Chronicles to Chicken Run, it's sad to see him take the easy way out here. His intentions are noble, and, unlike the thematically identical Bedtime Stories, Kirkpatrick doesn't feel the need to show off a bloated budget. But his cloying grabs for the audience's sympathy are almost sad in their desperation, each one staring at you with big button eyes and pleading to be liked.

As for the woebegone cast, Murphy has admittedly seen worse hours (Meet Dave and Norbit are far more catastrophic), though his shtick here does wear thin pretty fast. The real dealbreaker is little Shahidi, who will either charm your socks off or make you rue the day someone suggested children should act on film. Don't even get me started on Church and his role as a Native American, which comes across almost too perplexingly bizarre to qualify as truly racist.

I'm almost glad Imagine That is being released near the height of the summer movie season. Alongside the second Night at the Museum offering, it serves to highlight how tricky it can be to make an enriching family outing with as much substance as entertainment -- something Pixar's Up  has accomplished with flying colors. 

MY RATING: * 1/2 (out of ****)

(Released by Paramount Pictures and rated "PG" for some mild language and brief questionable behavior.)