In Your Dreams (2025)
12-month trend
12-month trend
Monthly article views
2025-09 to 2026-08
Two siblings enter a dream world to find a magical solution to their parents' crumbling marriage.
The story
Stevie Ting, a 12-year-old perfectionist, and her younger brother Elliot struggle with their parents' constant arguing over their future. Their parents, Michael and Joanne, are at odds over whether to stay in their current home or move to Duluth. To save their family from crumbling, the siblings discover a mysterious book called The Legend of the Sandman at a thrift store. The book claims that if they can find the Sandman in the dream world, he will grant their ultimate wish. They perform a ritual and fall asleep, entering a dream world where they become 'Lucid Dreamers,' capable of controlling aspects of the world as long as they hold hands.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Stevie and Elliot enter the dream world to find the Sandman and stop their parents' divorce. Accompanied by Baloney Tony, a sentient stuffed giraffe, they navigate surreal landscapes like 'Breakfast Town' while being hunted by Nightmara, the Queen of Nightmares. They eventually reach the Sandman's castle, but find he is a villain who traps dreamers in 'perfect' fantasies to feed on their dreams. He offers Stevie a world where her parents are happy and her brother never existed. While Stevie is tempted by this illusion, Elliot resists and teams up with Nightmara, who reveals she is a 'tough love' mentor trying to wake children up to face reality. Elliot rescues Stevie from her trance, and she realizes the 'perfect' world is empty without her brother. They reject the Sandman's offer and escape. In the real world, the family agrees to move to Duluth, with the parents reconciling. The film ends with a mid-credits scene where a character named Joon finds the discarded book.
- First release year
- 2025
- Runtime (minutes)
- 91
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Alex Woo; Erik Benson
- Writers
- Erik Benson · screenplay; Alex Woo · screenplay; Alex Woo · story; Stanley Moore · story
- Cast and characters
- Jolie Hoang-Rappaport · Stevie Ting; Elias Janssen · Elliot Ting; Craig Robinson · Baloney Tony; Simu Liu · Michael Ting; Cristin Milioti · Joanne Ting; Omid Djalili · the Sandman; Gia Carides · Nightmara; Erik Benson · Delilah
- Genres
- animated; fantasy; adventure; comedy
- Themes
- sibling bonds; reality vs. fantasy; family dynamics
- Tone and mood
- whimsical; adventurous
- Setting
- A dream world and the real world (including a thrift store and a move to Duluth).
- Premise and plot tags
- dream_exploration; sibling_journey
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews from critics.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 61 · scale: 100 · review count: 10
- Production trivia
- The film features a character named Baloney Tony, a stuffed giraffe that comes to life.; The character Nightmara is revealed to be a 'tough love' mentor.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
Your lists
Loading your lists…