Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
If you’ve seen the popular animated movie Inside Out, you know it imagines emotions as tiny beings living in the human brain and controlling our actions. The protagonist is Riley, a fun, sporty little girl who has trouble adjusting to her new home and school but soon finds her feet.
The animated mini-series Dream Productions acts as a bridge between the first film and Inside Out 2, focusing on Riley’s dreams and the beings inside her head that direct them – hence the title, Dream Productions. Riley’s head is home to a bustling crew of directors and elaborate teams working to create all kinds of dreams, from spooky nightmares to glitter-filled fantasies with unicorns.
Spanning just four episodes, the mini-series kicks off with a funny little dream about toddler Riley saying goodbye to her pacifier. It’s a “hit” dream by Paula (voiced by Paula Pell), a chatty, self-centered, not-too-imaginative director who relies heavily on her assistant Janelle (Ally Maki). But Riley is no longer a toddler, and Paula’s Dream Productions are getting repetitive and outdated for an ever-growing Riley who is hurtling toward teenage-dom. When Janelle is promoted to director, Paula must come up with a new big-hit dream if she wants to stay relevant.
For viewers hoping to see more of Riley, Dream Productions doesn’t have much to offer. The focus is largely on new dream realm characters – chiefly Paula, Janelle, and an artsy aspiring director named Xeni (Richard Ayoade), Paula’s new assistant. Most of the comedic moments in the series stem from Paula’s creative clashes with Xeni. While Paula is old-school and traditional, Xeni is avant-garde and experimental.
Dream Productions offers an interesting perspective on how dreams can influence a person’s mood – or, in rare cases, even help them make behavioral decisions. Paula and the other directors function as facets of Riley’s conscience, projecting dreams they believe will help her sleep better. With Riley going through puberty, one of the primary themes of the series is the challenge of navigating change. For instance, Riley is unsure about what to wear to a school dance and who to ask as her date.
As with Inside Out, the animation in the series is colorful and cute, but the new character designs are underwhelming. Paula and some of the other characters resemble blobs of colored clay. Janelle, depicted as a young, hard-working, and imaginative creator, looks like a blue M&M candy with bad purple hair.
While the series has its fun bits, its uninspired visual design and limited focus on Riley leave it feeling more like an interlude than an essential addition to the Inside Out universe. Overall, this mini-series a fun one-time-watch for fans of the movies.