TL;DR: In Your Dreams is a gorgeously animated, emotionally grounded fantasy about siblings navigating the chaos of growing up and family drifting apart. With humor, heart, and a giraffe named Baloney Tony, it’s one of Netflix’s best original animated films yet — proof that the streaming giant can absolutely compete with Pixar when it’s firing on all cylinders.
In Your Dreams
You know that moment in Inside Out when Joy realizes she can’t exist without Sadness? In Your Dreams lives in that same emotional territory — somewhere between whimsy and wistful melancholy — but it somehow sneaks in a fart joke from a one-eyed giraffe and still leaves you misty-eyed by the credits. Alex Woo’s first feature from his own Kuku Studios is that rare animated film that remembers both kids and adults are in the audience, giving us something imaginative, funny, and deeply human. Pixar should be looking over its shoulder.
We start in suburban Minnesota, a land of cozy sweaters, snowdrifts, and passive-aggressive politeness. Four-year-old Stevie (Hailey Magpali) has an idyllic little life — until her parents (Cristin Milioti and Simu Liu) decide to level up their family by adding a baby brother. Cue the tiny domestic apocalypse.
Fast-forward a decade, and Stevie (now voiced by Jolie Hoang-Rappaport) is a teenager trapped in that hormonal no-man’s land between childhood wonder and adult cynicism. She shares a tiny bedroom with her now elementary-school-aged brother Elliot (Elias Janssen), whose boundless imagination and chaotic energy could power a small city. Their parents’ marriage, meanwhile, is quietly cracking — no explosive fights, just two people growing apart in the slow, aching way real couples do. It’s Marriage Story, but with less yelling and more pancakes.
When the siblings stumble upon a dusty old book in a thrift store basement — “The Legend of the Sandman” — things take a sharp turn into fantasy. Stevie, desperate to fix her fracturing family, wishes for a miracle. Instead, she and Elliot are whisked into a surreal dreamscape filled with walking food, singing moons, and creatures that look like they escaped from a Tim Burton fever dream. This is where Woo and co-writer Erik Benson flex every creative muscle they’ve got.
Forget the parents — In Your Dreams belongs entirely to Stevie and Elliot. Their relationship is messy, real, and tender in the most believable ways. It’s not just sibling squabbles and snappy comebacks; it’s shared secrets, half-understood pain, and the kind of love that grows stronger through frustration.
Elias Janssen, as Elliot, walks the tightrope between annoying little brother and comic genius. He’s a pint-sized Deadpool with a magic kit, weaponizing his humor to mask confusion about the world unraveling around him. Jolie Hoang-Rappaport gives Stevie a remarkable emotional arc — her journey from irritation to empathy feels earned, not manufactured.
And then there’s Baloney Tony. Oh, Baloney Tony. Voiced with glorious goofiness by Craig Robinson, he’s a smelly, one-eyed stuffed giraffe who somehow manages to steal every scene he’s in. He’s the kind of animated sidekick who could’ve easily veered into Donkey-from-Shrek territory, but Woo reins him in with just enough sincerity to make him feel essential. He’s not just comic relief — he’s Elliot’s emotional anchor, the embodiment of childhood innocence fighting to stay relevant.
Visually, In Your Dreams is a buffet for the eyes. Kuku Studios clearly brought its A-game, and the result rivals anything from Pixar, DreamWorks, or Sony’s animation lab. The dreamworld is both wildly imaginative and thematically coherent. Everything — from the floaty physics of flying bedsheets to the eerie, soft light of the Sandman’s realm — has purpose.
You can feel the fingerprints of Woo’s Pixar training in every frame. The lighting, color gradients, and texture work are world-class. There’s a sequence involving a bridge made of floating memories that had me pausing just to take in the details. The film’s visual language constantly shifts — from soft watercolor tones in tender moments to surreal, kaleidoscopic chaos during nightmares. It’s Paprika meets Spirited Away by way of a bedtime story.
And the sound design? Chef’s kiss. Every rustle of dream dust, every distorted echo in the nightmare world adds to that immersive, cinematic lull. If you can, watch it in a dark room with decent speakers. The audio mix is practically ASMR for the imagination.
What really sets In Your Dreams apart is how gracefully it handles emotional weight. Divorce, identity, and childhood anxiety are baked into the story, but never dominate it. Woo and Benson don’t sugarcoat the hard stuff, but they also don’t wallow in it. The message is simple: growing up means realizing that love can change shape — and that’s okay.
It’s clear Woo drew from personal history here. His writing captures the messy tenderness of siblinghood in a way that feels almost autobiographical. It’s a family film that respects its audience’s intelligence — it doesn’t need a moral spelled out in Comic Sans at the end. Instead, the emotional beats sneak up on you like, well, a dream you don’t want to wake up from.
By the time Stevie and Elliot finally confront the Sandman (voiced with enigmatic warmth by an uncredited veteran you’ll definitely recognize), the film pulls off a twist that’s surprisingly profound. It’s less about getting what you wish for and more about understanding what you need.
In an age when animated films often feel like content assembly lines, In Your Dreams stands out for its soul. It’s funny without being loud, heartfelt without manipulation, and visually breathtaking without relying on gimmicks. Alex Woo’s debut feature is a love letter to childhood, creativity, and the fragile magic that holds families together.
Pixar may have defined the emotional animated template — but with In Your Dreams, Kuku Studios just proved they can dream on that same level. And maybe even out-heart them.
