Pixar‘s two Inside Out films were both funny and heartfelt, but they also worked because exploring the thoughts of a kid — who became a preteen in the second film — gives the creative team so many places to go. So, it makes sense that there would be a spinoff about the part of Riley Anderson’s mind that generates dreams.
Opening Shot: A foggy train station, where 3-year-old Riley Anderson and her parents are saying goodbye to her pacifier.
The Gist: It’s an epic scene created by Dream Productions; Joy (Amy Poehler) invites a documentary film crew into the HQ of Riley’s brain to explain that Dream Productions takes over when Riley is asleep.
“Farewell My Paci” was one of the studio’s big hits, directed by Paula Persimmon (Paula Pell), but now that Riley (Kensington Tallman) is 12, her memory of that dream and others Paula has directed are starting to fade. In fact, the studio hasn’t had a bit hit in awhile; Riley isn’t recalling her dreams as much as she once did, and sometimes she’s even waking up in the middle of them, which is deadly for the studio.
Paula depends on her assistant director, Janelle (Ally Maki), but Janelle wants to direct her own dreams. She definitely thinks she can direct dreams that are relevant to a preteen like Riley. As she and Paula try to set up the next big production, Janelle tries to tell her that she’s getting the chance to direct on her own, but Paula doesn’t give her a chance to get a word in.
We’re also introduced to Xeni (Richard Ayoade), who directs Riley’s daydreams; Paula dismisses him as a hack given that Riley isn’t even asleep for his productions.
The directors are called into a meeting with studio exec Jean Dewberry (Maya Rudolph), who knows they’re not creating the same impact hits they once did. She also announces that Janelle will be among the roster of directors, catching Paula by surprise.
Paula rallies her team to create a knockout dream for Riley revolving around a school dance. But her insistence on involving one of Riley’s old toys goes very wrong very fast.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Dream Productions is a direct spin-off of the Inside Out films, though it does employ the same mockumentary style that we’ve seen for over two decades now, from shows like The Office to Abbott Elementary.
Our Take: Dream Productions is one of those Disney+ series that is essentially an 80-plus-minute feature film broken into four episodes. It maintains a pretty strong connection with the Inside Out universe; it helps that many of the voices from the main film series — Poehler, Lewis Black, Liza Lapira, Tony Hale and Phyllis Smith — make appearances in the series. But there are also lots of visual cues, from the orbs that contain Riley’s memories to the massive archives that sit in the far reaches of her unconscious.
As we saw in Inside Out 2, Riley being a preteen gives the franchise’s writers, including series creator Mike Jones, fertile ground. Things are way more complicated now that puberty has hit, and not even her dreams are immune from her move away from the fantastical to just getting through the day. We really liked the idea that Paula Persimmon hasn’t produced a hit dream for some time, mainly because she’s still hanging on to the things that the kid version of Riley needed to ease her mind. Now, those needs are completely different.
In the tradition of the franchise, there are pretty funny moments along with sentimental ones. But, given the Hollywood studio theme of the series, it leans more towards the ridiculous than not, sort of in the way The Franchise portrayed the movie industry earlier this year. The silliness comes through in the episodic format.
What Age Group Is This For?: Some of the moviemaking references might go over little kids’ heads, but given the physical comedy, we think the show is essentially for all ages.
Parting Shot: Disaster strikes during Paula’s dream shoot, as the unicorn shell toy that she thinks will be the dream’s showstopper falls off its rigging and starts rolling over crew members.
Sleeper Star: Richard Ayoade always steals scenes, and he does so now as the overconfident Xeni.
Most Pilot-y Line: None we could find.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Dream Productions continues to effectively expand the Inside Out universe, which seems to know no bounds, given the fact that a preteen’s brain is so darn complicated.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.