Movie · 2025 · Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy · 1h 27m · PG · English
Curator score: 1.9/10 (30.2K ratings)
The adventure of a nighttime.
Overview
Stevie and her little brother Elliot journey into the wildly absurd landscape of their own dreams to ask the Sandman to grant them the perfect family.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.9/10
IMDb: 6.5/10
Letterboxd: 2.98/5
Metacritic: 61
TMDB: 7.0/10
Director
Alexander Woo
Production
Kuku Studios, Netflix Animation Studios
Cast
Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, Elias Janssen, Simu Liu, Craig Robinson, Cristin Milioti, Gia Carides, Omid Djalili, SungWon Cho, Zachary Noah Piser, Hailey Magpali, Francis Benson, Kai Zen, Bob Bergen, Maisie Benson, Jorge Diaz, Quinn Minichino Eakins, Erik Benson, Lizzie Freeman, Kellen Goff, Scott Menville
Where to watch
Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A visually inventive family fantasy with a sincere emotional core, but it sounds uneven in execution: more clever concept than fully polished crowd-pleaser. Best approached as a playful, kid-friendly dream adventure with a few genuinely memorable images and jokes.
Best for
families with older kids who like fantastical adventures
viewers who enjoy surreal animation and dream logic
fans of heartfelt stories about siblings and family repair
people looking for a lighter, more accessible Inception-style premise
Skip if
you want top-tier Pixar-level emotional precision
you’re allergic to broad kid-movie humor
you prefer tight plotting over whimsical detours
you’re hoping for a truly scary or genuinely mind-bending dream film
Overview
In Your Dreams has a strong hook: two siblings wandering through a wildly elastic dreamscape to bargain for the family they want. That premise gives it room for playful visual invention, and the movie seems to lean into absurdity, nightmare imagery, and kid-friendly chaos without losing sight of its emotional goal.
Worth noting
The response suggests a film that is often funnier and stranger than expected, with a few standout bits of imagination and a soundtrack that helps it pop. At the same time, it sounds like the story is fairly predictable and the dialogue can be clunky, which keeps it from fully breaking out of the standard family-animation lane.
Bottom line
As a Netflix animated feature, it appears to be aiming for broad appeal rather than perfection: warm, energetic, and occasionally very funny, but not quite as sharp or moving as the best of the genre. If you’re in the mood for a whimsical bedtime adventure with some edge, it’s worth a look; if you want something more refined, it may leave you wanting more.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Joel (2.5★) · 534 likes
In your dreams isn’t gonna blow anyone away, but it’s a wholesome enough kids movie that’s essentially inception for babies.
Writing_Wrongs (3.5★) · 393 likes
Inception has nothing on this
Milo 🐻 (2.5★) · 340 likes
Close enough, welcome back Five Nights At Freddys
JFtheLOLZOR (1.5★) · 268 likes
why was markiplier the dad
Evan Powers (5★) · 233 likes
I can see your crack houdini.
BRO WHAT 😭
Beautiful film.