Dream Productions | Review
© 2024 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
Pixar movies are taken very seriously relative to the rest of animation. Through numerous Oscar wins and bold experimentation within mainstream animation, their films are greeted with an expectation of emotional catharsis rather than entertainment. Judging a Pixar film comes down to the success of their allegories, whether it be elements representing race relations, red pandas representing puberty or little colour-coded people representing emotions. Dream Productions is a spin-off from one of the major properties that helped the studio cement that expectation, Inside Out, but instead chooses to swing in the opposite direction and thrive in a story that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
This mockumentary is set in the corner of Riley’s mind that creates dreams, a mini Hollywood where dreams are akin to blockbusters and directors yearn to express their creativity while fearing the wrath of studio execs. Inside Out is known for its interpolations of academic psychology into stories that help us understand our minds better, and in the two episodes screened to critics, Dream Productions pays some lip service to that, establishing dreams as a necessary processing tool for the brain. However, the allegory the show is more interested in is that of show business, as we follow dream director Paula who looks to recapture the spark behind her best work as Riley enters adolescence.
Upon pressing play on Dream Productions you’re greeted with what’s largely been a casualty of the streaming era – great opening credits. This chalky, fluid mosaic is a wonderful tone setter for a show that’s a bit more loose and pacey than what we’ve come to expect from Pixar’s cinematic output.
One would expect the budget, and therefore the animation quality, to step down as Inside Out makes its transition from big to small screen. However, the setting of Dream Productions allows for the smaller budget to be slightly obscured. The characters we focus on are globs of gloop with limbs, eyes and hair, textures and shapes that are far easier to render than the main cast of Inside Out who are composed of iridescent individually discernable particles of light. The dream makers still look great, and it’s a testament to Pixar’s character animation that something so abstract can feel so human.
© 2024 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
The dreams themselves allow for massive set pieces where the animators can really flaunt their stuff, especially as the show transitions between what Riley sees through her dream lens and what is actually occurring on set. Outside of that, the environments are simply studio lots or office buildings that, while not being visually spectacular, suit the grounded feel of a mockumentary. That handheld camera framing device also allows for a lot of fun camera movement and editing which feels fresh in comparison to what Pixar have done before.
The show is at its comedic best when poking fun at the film industry and employing a rate of sight and background gags that Aardman would be proud of. As much as Dream Productions’ tone is a departure from Pixar’s usual, it still aims to have that Pixarian quality of working as well for adults as it does for children. For older audiences, jokes about directors “revolutionising the form” and a barrage of nerdy film references are plentiful. For younger audiences, there not only is a wealth of physical comedy but Dream Productions works as an entry point to understanding how movie sets work and what people like directors, ADs and gaffers actually do.
Real care has gone into Dream Productions but it would be difficult to label it as ambitious. As enjoyable as the small stakes and sitcom-y structure the show exhibits are, it would be fascinating to see Pixar push the boat out further and commit to the more longform storytelling the medium of TV is beloved for. Dream Productions’ four episode total is conservative and exhibits a lack of faith in the audience’s willingness to spend more time with these characters. Perhaps the upcoming Win or Lose will scratch this particular itch.
© 2024 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
Disney’s mandate for their studios to produce content for Disney+ may have stumped the minds working on franchises like Marvel and Star Wars, but Pixar seems to have cracked a great way to use the platform. While others look to tell cinematic stories on the small screen, often leading to bloated plots and unsatisfying endings, Pixar is designing work to be consumed in small bites.
Streaming is overpopulated with so many options available to anyone with a Fire Stick, so you need an attachment to a big franchise to pull people towards you. But within that franchise, you can give people variety. Dream Productions does just that, it takes a world we’re familiar with and gives us a completely different feel to what we’d expect. Perhaps they could stand to be more ambitious, but there’s definitely room for something as breezy and unserious as Dream Productions.