Let's talk child actors. There have been many over the last century, Mickey Rooney, Shirley Temple are possibly the best known and most successful. Others like McCauley Culkin were in the right place at the right time and couldn't make the transition to adult movies. I put Haley Joel Osment right up near the top of the tree. He went on to be brilliant in Sixth sense & extremely good in A.I. He is also the best thing about this movie. He has a wonderful ability to act with his eyes, this makes his performances so much more credible. This movie has some humorous moments, but is actually rather sad & full of people searching but not finding their goal. Whoopi Goldberg didn't really add a dimension to performances we've seen dozens of times from her and Gerard Depardieu was OK but unspectacular. There's definitely a message in this movie and the whole topic of imaginary friends is a fascinating topic to explore. I'm not sure that this movie managed to hit the mark, mainly due to the disruptive and slightly confusing on occasions use of flashbacks & fantasy.