Nate At The Movies

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

I like to get ahead of the game when it comes to Oscar-nominated movies, so I’ve been checking Variety’s list of predictions and gave In Your Dreams, one of their Best Animated Feature predictions, a go. I shouldn’t have.

Netflix has always been hit-or-miss on their original films, and while they usually fare well with acquiring and then distributing animated films—think KPop Demon Hunters or The Mitchells vs. The Machines—the ones they make themselves have been bad, In Your Dreams included. The film was a hot mess with a terrible script to boot, and its contemporaries run laps around it.

With plot points reminiscent of masterpieces like Inside Out and even mildly competent films like Orion and the Dark, In Your Dreams needed to do something unique to stand out, but almost every beat was bland and boring. Some regrettable story decisions were made, too, with the biggest offender being showing naked kids in a kids’ movie. Seriously? Censor it, blur it, it doesn’t matter. So incredibly inappropriate. As for that terrible script? This was some of the hardest dialogue to trudge through, with stupid humor and disclosure of information and emotions that left no room for any viewer to think for themselves. I abhor kids’ movies that thinks kids are stupid, and In Your Dreams demonstrated that it’s one of those in its script.

The story was also all over the place, evolving confusingly and cramming in messages that they didn’t take time to develop. As a result, what this film had to say to children of divorce was pretty misguided and unhelpful. I didn’t like that the responsibility of keeping the family together fell to the children, and while I totally get that there are families who do stay together after tumultuous times like these, the parents staying together here felt easy. Where another so-so kids’ movie like Spellbound actually had something helpful to say about children in this situation, In Your Dreams is sure to lead some troubled kids astray.

Just about everything about In Your Dreams was crummy or underwhelming. The film had its moments, as all films—even the bad ones—do: Craig Robinson was decent as Baloney Tony, but he needs to pick better roles; I enjoyed the few times the film dipped into the anime aesthetic; and their needle drops were alright. Between a bad story, though, uncanny budget animation, and some truly awful advice for struggling children, In Your Dreams earned its spot as the worst kids’ movie I’ve ever seen. And yes, that does include The Emoji Movie. I’m shocked as well.