^{Credit: In Your Dreams (Netflix)}

While In Your Dreams might not be from Pixar, director Alex Woo worked on several films between Ratatouille and Incredibles 2. He went on to co-found Kuku Studios with fellow Pixar alumni Stanley Moore and Tim Hahn. In Your Dreams marks their first feature, partnering with Netflix Animation. Even if it doesn’t reach the heights of Pixar’s best work, In Your Dreams comes closer than John Lasseter’s recent efforts at Skydance Animation. The film is best described as Little Nemo with a Pixar spin. One of the characters even stumbles upon a Little Nemo comic book. The visuals also pay homage to Winsor McCay, namely a bed coming to life.

The story centers on siblings Stevie (Jolie Hoang-Rappaport) and Elliot (Elias Janssen). Stevie fears that their parents (Cristin Milioti and Simu Liu) are on the verge of separating. She’d also like some distance from Elliot. The two have to share a bedroom, although Dad has a room for recording music. Why not give Elliot that small space? Well, that kind of ties into the movie’s moral. Dad is chasing a dream, but it’s coming at the expense of his family. Stevie’s dream is to have her parents back together. Luckily, she and Elliot stumble upon one of those obligatory magic books that always exist in worlds like this.

When they fall asleep, the siblings are transported to the dream realm, which is populated by sentient breakfast food, creepy pizza place animatronics, and Elliot’s favorite toy, Baloney Tony (Craig Robinson). Why is he called Baloney Tony? Because Elliot stuffs him with baloney. Yeah, even for a quirky kid, that’s pretty bizarre. Baloney Tony is funny in small doses, but the filmmakers are wise enough not to overuse him like Valentino in Wish. The main focus is kept on the sibling dynamic, which is where the heart of the movie lies.

Stevie and Elliot learn that they can have one wish granted if they find the Sandman (Omid Djalili), but they’ll need to make it past the ominous Nightmara (Gia Carides) first. This leads to some fun imagery as the brother and sister weather through several nightmares. It would’ve been nice if the nightmares played with different styles, although outside of an anime reference, there isn’t much variety. Still, the animation is always vibrant, creative, and immersive, creating an imaginative world that knows no bounds.

While Sandman and Nightmara feel a bit underdeveloped, they aren’t without a few clever twists. Whether or not you see these twists coming, the story takes the whole “follow your dreams” in an inspired direction. Countless movies have sold us the message that our dreams will come true if we want them enough and try hard enough. Sometimes they do, but in many cases, they don’t. Even when you achieve your dream, it might not be properly earned, or you may find something else that was more important. In Your Dreams takes the time to explore these themes, amounting to a third act that pulls at the heartstrings.

The film as a whole could’ve used a little more polishing. There’s one too many potty gags, and a soundtrack of mostly licensed songs can be distracting. To be fair, there is a pretty funny running gag involving the song “Don't Cha.” Despite some misgivings, In Your Dreams is charming and meaningful with a strong sibling bond at its core. It refreshingly doesn’t wrap everything up in a tidy package either. The film is about accepting that life can’t be as ideal as a dream. The same can be said about In Your Dreams, which might not be perfect, but there’s still much to enjoy. 

Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1 and 2. Available Now!