Netflix’s upcoming In Your Dreams seems to have some very special vibes around it. When it comes to animated films aimed squarely at children, keeping my attention can be difficult. Too often, they fall into predictable story ideas and character tropes wrapped in a shiny new package to distract from their lack of originality. However, based on the 30 minutes I’ve seen, I am encouraged that there is more to In Your Dreams.
The film takes its time before jumping into the fantastical, which helps distinguish it from similar films. Pre-teen Stevie makes for a great lead because she has a nice balance of child-like and adult maturity to recognize that things around her aren’t quite right. Yet, she has the optimism to think she can change things. She knows her parents are drifting apart, and her fear of that calls her to action. The small event of making french toast independently, a big family event when she was younger, makes perfect sense and adds nice character shading.
Elliot, her younger brother, doesn’t notice the tension in the house. That’s because he is more concerned with finding his missing stuffed animal Baloney Tony and overall just being just a rambunctious kid. Stevie is a little exasperated with him at times, but you can tell they are close. He doesn’t actively do things to annoy her. Stevie provides much of the kid humor. One amusing site gag happens when he tries to hide, but his butt crack is on full display.
Another interesting aspect of In Your Dreams ties to the uncertainty around the parents’ relationship. Will they split apart? Dad wants to still focus on being a musician, which is what brought the two of them together when they were younger. Mom seems to be the main provider as a teacher. A job in a new city may be the final straw that breaks them up. They aren’t yelling at each other, but they have different priorities. I could see this going several different ways or even the film leaves it open ended.
Every great animated film has to have a quest. Here, the quest emerges as the kids accidentally conduct a magic spell to access the dream world. There, they hope to find the wish-granting sandman. Obviously, this will not lead to Stevie using magic to solve her parents’ problem and instead teach her something, but the journey she undergoes holds a great deal of potential. The dream world she navigates has tons of visual and creative potential. There’s also the main villain Nightmara. I didn’t get to see her full form, but she appears to be inside storm clouds and spreads darkness and decay wherever she goes. What she fully looks like and her motivations are unclear. Maybe we will never get a full look at her or why she does what she does, but her presence already creates a nice sense of dread without getting too scary for the kids.
My biggest question mark is Baloney Tony, Elliot’s stuffed animal that is alive in the dream world. I cannot tell if he will be funny or annoying, but the design is very cute. (I was given my own Baloney Tony, which I enjoyed.) I didn’t get to see a great deal of his interactions besides the fact that he and Elliot love each other and Stevie thinks he stinks. The animation is very fun as well. The first dream sequence was not only visually interesting but got my adrenaline going. They bring the dream world to life with interesting set designs that are both visually pleasing and extremely detailed.
The message of the film appears simple but the execution is already doing a few things that are encouraging for me. Fun characters, a deeper problem than what most children’s films usually deal with, and some really cool animation. I hope Stevie, Elliot, and Baloney Tony’s adventure is as exciting as it appears.
In Your Dreams will have a limited theatrical release November 7th and then will stream exclusively on Netflix November 14th.
