At the start of In Your Dreams, a new DreamWorks Animation movie available to stream on Netflix on November 14, 2025, we meet a 12-year-old girl named Stevie. She is stressed. Her mind sparkles with idyllic childhood memories, but her present situation hardly resembles those happier times. Her parents are getting divorced, and she convinces herself that it’s her responsibility to heal their relationship.
What’s the Plot of ‘In Your Dreams’?
When her 8-year-old brother, Elliot, stumbles on a book which reveals that the Sandman, who controls the world of dreams, can grant wishes, she latches onto the idea that this mythical being can restore her family’s happiness.
But first, she and Elliot have to face their nightmares to get to him—and that includes a city populated by rotting breakfast food. And, in Stevie’s case, it means appearing in a popular department store completely naked (but then again who hasn’t had that nightmare).
“This is a girl who is so desperate to fix her family that she’ll brave her literal nightmares just for a chance to do so. Her desperation and drive is something that a lot of type-A tweens could relate to,” Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, 20, who voices Stevie in the movie, tells Parents. “All she sees is that something she thought was perfect has changed, and her distress pushes her to find the Sandman.”
‘In Your Dreams’ Has a Darker Tone Than Most Kids’ Movies
Stevie is worrying about how chaotic and unmanageable her life might become when her parents divorce, while bickering with ever optimistic and upbeat brother Elliot.
Her worries infuses the film with a darker tone that viewers might not find in other kids’ movies, but the tweens watching might be able to relate to her feelings of responsibility and concern for her parents. Yet, because she’s still a young kid, she doesn’t quite fully grasp how layered and complex the decision to maintain a family unit—or to break it apart—might be for the adults in the situation.
“She thinks a black and white solution can fix a problem filled with so much complicated grey, and her reckoning with that reality is extremely difficult,” explains Hoang-Rappaport.
The Protagonist’s Mental Health Takes Center Stage
Sometimes, kids try to be brave when it feels like their families are falling apart. That’s can be the case even when parents try to hide conflict.
“When I was a kid and my parents were going through challenges,” Alex Woo, the film’s director, says, “I could always feel it, even when they pretended that everything was fine.”
That’s what Stevie wants to do too—pretend everything is fine, though her inner world is marred by the loss of control she feels when her parents argue. And she’d rather try to fix the situation on her own. It’s a mindset that will feel familiar to both adults and older kids.
“I remember getting the audition sides and thinking, ‘Wow, they’re not shying away from Stevie’s pain in this,’” says Hoang-Rappaport. “The movie affirms that feeling hurt by those experiences is perfectly normal and worthy of acknowledging, but it also doesn’t pretend we can just wish the bad times away. I mean, that’s quite literally what Stevie tries to do.”
In fact, it’s the film’s refusal to downplay, dismiss, or gloss over Stevie’s reaction to her tumultuous family circumstances that makes the movie work. Too often we see teens and tween dismissed as dramatic or overly-emotional, but Steveie’s perspective is portrayed with respect and nuance.
‘In Your Dreams’ Could Be a Catalyst for a Heart-To-Heart With Your Kid
In that respect, the film offers a potential gateway to talking to your kids about their own emotions and mental health, whether there’s conflict in the family or not. Watching the movie together might be just the opening that parents need to make sure that kids are handling school and friendships in a healthy way.
“Feeling like you don’t have all the answers is scary at any age,” says Hoang-Rappaport. “But I think if kids feel like their parents are willing to navigate that uncertainty with them, it will make them feel much better.”
And if there is uncertainty or upheaval in your family right now, it might be worthwhile to use Stevie and Elliot’s story as a launching pad. It can help make your kids understand that they are not responsible for fixing the family’s problems, and that you, as their parents, will always have their back—even if the family doesn’t look the same as it has in the past.
“I hope parents are reminded from this film that kids understand a lot more than we often give them credit for,” says Woo. “I could have really benefitted from more open conversations about their challenges and reassurance that regardless of the difficulties they were facing, that their love for me and our family was never in question.”
The Film’s Takeaway Is That Family Can Give Us Strength
Of course, In Your Dreams also underscores the point that Stevie isn’t on her own at all. Though she often holds her brother Elliot at arms length, it’s largely out of concern for him that she faces the unknown of the dream world. And they can’t find the Sandman, or decide what they truly want for their family’s future, without each other’s support.
Together, the pair enter into their dreams and nightmares in search of the Sandman’s realm and what emerges from their journey is a stronger bond than perhaps even they knew they had. In one pivotal scene in the movie, Stevie must find her own courage to protect her brother—and later their roles reverse. That moment is indicative of themes threaded throughout the entire film.
“The takeaway from Stevie and Elliot’s relationship, and really the whole movie, is that you can get through tough times if you lean on your loved ones. That’s what Stevie and Elliot do, both in the dreamworld and in the real world,” Hoang-Rappaport says. “Each of their decisions to be there for each other, despite all the nightmares they’ve had to face, is truly the heart of the film.”
Without spoiling too much, the parents eventually have to team up to help Stevie and Elliot. When they put their problems aside, they are a formidable united front—not exactly perfect, but exactly what their kids need.
“My hope is that the film normalizes the imperfection and messiness of life,” Woo says. “Sometimes the best thing to do is to let go of what we dream life should be, and hold onto the beautiful mess of life as it is. Getting through the messiness with those we love is what makes life meaningful.
Read the original article on Parents
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