This one’s for the eldest siblings who’ve always tried to hold onto everything with their arms too full and their hearts on their sleeves. The ones who’ve always wanted to make sure that the younger siblings are taken care of, even as they’re complaining about wanting their own rooms. With excellent voice work from Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, Elias Janssen, Simu Liu, Cristin Milioti, Omid Djalili, Bob Bergen, and Craig Robinson, Netflix’s In Your Dreams is a goofy, genuinely funny, and heartwarming animated feature that kids will undoubtedly appreciate.
The movie is an agonizing account of the type of nightmares we’ve all likely had (both as kids and adults), making it easy to remember we aren’t alone in the stress we’re experiencing in our day-to-day lives. It feels oddly relatable, and that’s exactly where In Your Dreams shines as an exhibition of how our heartaches manifest in terrible dreams with strange but incredibly realistic tragedies.
More than anything, so much of the movie shines because of its heartfelt depiction of how much changes when we grow up—the fears and the loss and the pain. How one minute you’re giggling over a book and the next, a little boy is asking his older sister if a potential heartache can split them apart. Every absurd situation that both Stevie and Elliot run into in their dreams is the absurdity that we’ve all experienced in some way, shape, or form. (I, for one, did once dream about an entirely abandoned Disneyland.)
It makes you wonder how connected we all are as human beings when even our nightmares can be wildly similar while our experiences are so different. Every moment is a hilarious blast to look at and point to the screen like the infamous Leonardo DiCaprio meme from Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
In Your Dreams really doesn’t miss a beat when it comes to delivering emotions that feel achingly real, and that’s the one thing I can’t stop thinking about. It’s a heartwarming, wildly chaotic story that centers around siblings and the human heart’s desire to leave things as they are—to want the best in every situation. To stay comfortable, loved, and taken care of. It’s an honest reflection of how scary changes can be and how the desperation to hold on can lead to choices that are both complex and easy to understand.
The animation and directing from Erik Benson and Alexander Woo are genuinely stunning from start to finish, and it feels like something fans of Pixar’s Inside Out could especially appreciate. Robinson’s Baloney Tony is a memorable character, but more importantly, Stevie and Elliot are so well fleshed out that while we only spend an hour and thirty minutes with them, the siblings are easy to care for right from the beginning. And, if you’re anything like me, the needle drops in In Your Dreams are literal perfection—every millennial is bound to be struck hard by the nostalgia of it all, making the movie that much more enjoyable for kids and adults.
In Your Dreams premieres exclusively on Netflix on November 14.
First Featured Image Credit: ©Netflix