![\"\"](\"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/in-your-dreams-one-sheet.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Sandman please, I call unto you.<\/em> If only we could all pray that incantation each night and have our dreams come true! Who wouldn\u2019t want that? Welllll, let’s think about that for a minute.<\/p>\n With IN YOUR DREAMS, Netflix Animation and director\/co-writer Alex Woo and co-director\/co-writer Erik Benson launch us into a dazzling, full-throttle adventure through the wild world of sleep. Here, Sandman is absolutely real, hot dogs are literally dogs, a stuffed giraffe named Baloney Tony springs to life, beds buck like broncos, Breakfast Town is magically delicious, zombie breakfasts roam freely, donuts chat, fruit has attitude, and every neon-colored cereal ever invented is yours for the eating\u2014milk optional. Our guides are 11-year-old Stevie and her mischievous, magically obsessed, pesky little brother Elliot, two kids desperate to make one dream come true: keep their family whole. But in Dreamland, nothing is simple, and to reach the Sandman, they\u2019ll have to face challenges bigger than any nightmare.<\/p>\n Back in the real world, Stevie\u2019s family has hit some turbulence. Her parents were once an indie music duo, but life shifted\u2014first with Stevie\u2019s arrival, then with Elliot\u2019s. Mom traded the stage for stability and became the breadwinner, while Dad clings to the idea of a solo album that will clearly never materialize. With finances tight and the strain rising, Mom interviews for a major job in Duluth\u2014an assistant college professor, a huge leap from her current role as a teacher.\u00a0 But Dad refuses to move, Stevie doesn\u2019t want to uproot her life, and Elliot is too wrapped up in magic tricks to notice anything. When Stevie overhears her parents discussing the possibility of separating if Mom gets the Duluth job, she becomes convinced it\u2019s up to her to keep the family together. And a happy French toast breakfast with whipped cream smiley faces definitely won\u2019t cut it.<\/p>\n A simple trip to the bookstore for a book report leads the siblings to something far more extraordinary. While Stevie swoons over the nerdy clerk and Elliot discovers stacks of vintage comics filled with heroes, cowboys, and cosmic adventures, Elliot wanders into the basement and finds a dusty trunk of old magic props\u2026 and a mysterious dream book featuring none other than the Sandman. That night, after reciting an incantation found in the book, Stevie and Elliot are launched into Dreamland\u2014each landing in a fantasy shaped by their passions. Elliot\u2019s bed gallops across the sky like a bucking bronco, while Stevie enters Breakfast Town, a sugary wonderland built from her happiest childhood memories.<\/p>\n But how do they reach the Sandman\u2014and fix their family? The answer arrives quickly: when they recite the spell together, they share the same dream and gain the power to reshape Dreamland itself. Their quest leads them through challenges and emotional truths, including a confrontation with Nightmara, Queen of Nightmares, whose lesson for Elliot hits harder than any monster.<\/p>\n Beyond Dreamland\u2019s electric spectacle, the real joy of IN YOUR DREAMS lies in Stevie and Elliot\u2019s relationship. Watching them grow, clash, bond, and finally understand each other gives the film its emotional core. Their journey is full of wonder, fear, humor, and even heartbreak\u2014especially as they race to keep Elliot asleep so their shared dream doesn\u2019t crumble.<\/p>\n Visually, the film is a feast for the eyes. Shared-dream sequences explode with imagination: Elliot\u2019s comic-book fantasies come alive; an exuberant, \u201cIt\u2019s a Small World\u201d-inspired ride bursts with color and cultural whimsy; a Chuck E. Cheese-style ball pit becomes a riot of chaos; Sandman\u2019s glowing castle shimmers like a beacon in the night; and the bronco-bed ride channels pure Bedknobs and Broomsticks<\/em> nostalgia. With Woo\u2019s Pixar background\u2014and many Pixar alumni on the team\u2014it\u2019s no surprise the film carries echoes of animation classics. But rather than imitate, it evolves, forging its own vibrant identity.<\/p>\n In Dreamworld, color is king. Neon hues blaze across the screen, and one sequence even erupts into anime-style spectacle. Bridges and buildings are constructed from popsicle sticks, wrappers, pipe cleaners, cereal bowls, milk cartons\u2014an entire universe built from the raw materials of childhood imagination. Sandman\u2019s castle, sculpted from glowing dream-sand and surrounded by shimmering star-orbs, is a stunning achievement, with illumination effects so rich they nearly leap off the screen.<\/p>\n The nightmare sequence is one of the film\u2019s most universally relatable moments\u2014teeth falling out, showing up naked in public, failing a test you forgot to study for. They\u2019re the kinds of nightmares everyone has endured, but here they\u2019re delivered with comedic flair. Then comes the brilliant needle-drop of the Eurythmics\u2019 \u201cSweet Dreams,\u201d turning the moment into a wickedly funny highlight.<\/p>\n Music plays a huge role in IN YOUR DREAMS. Alongside \u201cSweet Dreams,\u201d the soundtrack includes a clever new cover of \u201cMr. Sandman\u201d plus the 1954 Chordettes version, \u201cDon\u2019t Cha,\u201d \u201cSleep2Dream,\u201d \u201cHey Ya,\u201d Metallica\u2019s \u201cEnter Sandman,\u201d and an uproarious use of Eric Carmen\u2019s \u201cHungry Eyes\u201d from \u201cDirty Dancing\u201d. Simu Liu delivers a gorgeous rendition of \u201cThe Holding On and The Letting Go,\u201d easily one of the film\u2019s most emotional moments. Composer John Debney ties everything together with a score that\u2019s cinematic, playful, and rich with motifs\u2014from western cues for Elliot\u2019s bucking bronco dreams to heroic flourishes for Baloney Tony\u2019s big saves. And yes, keep your ears open: there\u2019s one more Dirty Dancing nod hidden in the dialogue.<\/p>\n The voice cast is superb. Craig Robinson brings irresistible and exuberant warmth and charm to Baloney Tony, while Omid Djalili gives the Sandman a wonderfully ambiguous edge\u2014equal parts comforting and unsettling. But the film\u2019s emotional weight rests on Jolie Hoang-Rappaport as Stevie and Elias Janssen as Elliot, and they absolutely soar. Their vocal rhythms with cadence and tonal inflections, emotional honesty, and dynamic range make every moment between them feel lived-in and real.<\/p>\n
\nGrant me my dreams, <\/em>
\nMake them come true.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/In_Your_Dreams_u_00_52_31_05-400x168.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/dream2-400x168.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/In_Your_Dreams_u_00_52_49_21-400x168.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/In_Your_Dreams_u_00_23_14_16-400x168.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/dream4-400x168.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/In_Your_Dreams_u_00_22_38_03-400x168.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/In_Your_Dreams_u_00_36_38_13-400x168.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/In_Your_Dreams_u_00_25_10_13-400x168.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/In_Your_Dreams_u_00_42_13_14-400x168.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/dream3-400x168.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/In_Your_Dreams_u_00_17_08_18-400x168.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/In_Your_Dreams_u_00_46_39_17-400x168.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/In_Your_Dreams_u_00_25_02_12-400x168.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/In_Your_Dreams_u_00_38_02_20-400x168.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/In_Your_Dreams_u_00_25_27_05-400x168.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n