In Your Dreams
With Inside Out and its sequel, Pixar delivered poignant messages about personal growth that were wrapped up in imaginative explorations of a tween girl’s subconscious. Netflix’s In Your Dreams, co-written and directed by former Pixar alumna Alex Woo and Erik Benson, channels a similar energy as it sees its brother and sister duo travel across the dream world in a bid to salvage their parents’ marriage. There are tonnes of great visuals, just as much creativity, and a heartfelt story at its core. However, this animated adventure doesn’t quite fit together, with its chaotic approach to storytelling feeling like ideas from two separate plots were stuck together.
The film centres around Stevie (Jolie Hoang-Rappaport), a young girl who longs for happier times when she becomes aware that her parents (Simu Liu and Hailey Magpali) might be splitting up when her mother contemplates taking a job in the city. When her younger brother Elliot (Elias Janssen) stumbles upon a mysterious book that informs them the Sandman (Omid Djali) can make their dreams a reality, the siblings are transported into their dreams where they must make their way to his castle by overcoming the nightmares that lie in their way.
Visually, In Your Dreams is spectacular. Character models are expressive and rendered with impressive attention to detail, and the dream world is home to some truly stunning shots. The film also has a great sense of humour. While it does have its share of eye-rolling fart jokes, many of the gags hit the sweet spot between witty and zany and are delivered with an infectious high energy. While Craig Robinson is a lot of fun as Baloney Tony, Elliot’s long-lost stuffed animal, it’s Janssen who consistently delivers the most laughs as the younger sibling.
When the heroes arrive at the Sandman’s domain, there’s still over half the runtime left, and this is where this feature starts to lose some of its magic. The promise of a whimsical brother-sister journey across a surreal dreamscape is cut short as the plot shifts to a whole other premise. The second half is far from being bad (in fact, it’s where most of the touching moments are found), but the rushed nature of the execution means that there’s not enough time given to explore either half effectively.
Despite its missteps, In Your Dreams is nevertheless a solid animated outing.
Andrew Murray
In Your Dreams is released on Netflix on 14th November 2025.
Watch the trailer for In Your Dreams here:
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