In Your Dreams

image for In Your Dreams

Short takes

Not suitable under 8, parental guidance to 10 (violence, scary scenes, heavy themes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for In Your Dreams
  • a review of In Your Dreams completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 18 November 2025.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 8 Not suitable due to violence, scary scenes and heavy themes of family conflict and parental separation.
Children aged 8–10 Parental guidance recommended due to violence, scary scenes and heavy themes of family conflict and parental separation.
Children aged 11 and over Ok for this age group, though particularly sensitive children may still need parental guidance.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: In Your Dreams
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild animated violence, themes, fantasy themes, and scary scenes
Length: 91 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Stevie (voiced by Jolie Hoang-Rappaport) thought that her family was perfect. However, she has noticed that things have been changing, as her parents argue more and grow distant from each other. When her mother is accepted for a job out of town, she becomes scared that her parents are going to split up. In an effort to keep their family together, Stevie and her little brother Elliot (voiced by Elias Janssen) dive into the land of their own dreams to find the Sandman (voiced by Omid Djalili); a magical being that can make their dreams come true. As the siblings delve deeper into their dreams and nightmares to resolve their family conflict, they begin to realise that not everything is as it seems.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Family conflict; Parental separation; Dreams and nightmares; Fantasy, Sibling relationships.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • Several instances of slapstick-style injury, where characters fall, and smack into walls and other objects, in a comedic way with no injury.
  • On several occasions, Stevie expresses resentment toward Elliot for changing their family dynamic and being annoying.
  • Elliot tries to help in the kitchen, causing Stevie to knock a hot pan, burning herself and knocking the pan to the floor. She gets visibly angry at him, locking him out of the room.
  • The children are chased by an old lady who stabs at them with a knife.
  • Elliot, alongside several other children, beat up a character in a parrot costume in a comedic manner.
  • A female character punches the Sandman in the face, knocking him out.
  • In a scary dream sequence, whack-a-mole style toys say, “I’m sorry I have to bash your face in!” before smacking a hammer down on the children, waking them up.
  • Stevie hits her head hard on the bed, falling backwards in pain.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • Throughout the film, there are several scary-looking characters, including mouldy food and giant hotdog-like characters with large teeth; scary-looking animatronics; and a large, demon-like woman.
  • A disembodied voice ominously whispers for the children to wake up, accompanied by loud crashes of thunder, before they plunge down to Earth in a scary falling sequence.
  • There is a scary-looking, creepy muffin creature that is covered in mould.
  • Breakfast foods suddenly turn mouldy and rancid during a loud, scary swell of music. They then descend on and begin attacking Stevie and her brother.
  • Scary looking mouldy food “executes” the children by dropping them into a hot toaster.
  • All Stevie’s teeth fall out.
  • Scary-looking animatronic characters sing “Don’t Cha” by the Pussycat Dolls.
  • A scary-looking mutilated animatronic drops a giant arcade machine on the children.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • All of the above scenes may also be distressing for this age group.
  • Stevie watches her parents argue about bills and financial concerns, before they get carried away in a storm, disappearing in a scary dream sequence.
  • Stevie is rushed to the hospital as Elliot is unable to wake her from her dream. Her parents and Elliot are shown sitting by her bedside, distressed.
  • Stevie screams at Elliot, telling him to leave her alone. He falls into a chasm and disappears.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • On multiple occasions, Stevie expresses fear that her parents’ relationship is not good, because she has heard them fighting.
  • Stevie overhears her parents discussing the possibility of splitting up. She is visibly distressed and throws a family photo on the floor, smashing it accidentally.
  • Both siblings express that they’re very scared of their parents splitting up, because they don’t want to move houses or get split up.
  • Stevie throws a picture at a mirror, shattering it, realising she’s trapped in the dream without her brother. She cries and breaks down in visible distress, praying for her brother back.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Stevie swoons over an older teenage boy.
  • A small creature that looks blob-shaped is seen twerking; another character comments that this is, “just wrong”.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • Stevie and Elliot are shown naked in a non-sexual, humorous way, in the context of a ‘fear of being naked in public’ dream. Their private areas are hidden from view or blurred out.

Use of substances

  • None noted.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • You suck!
  • Crappy
  • Turd
  • God.

In a nutshell

In Your Dreams is an animated, heartfelt family film that manages to balance family conflict and humour in a refreshing way. Due to scary scenes and themes, this film is not recommended for children under 8 years and parental guidance is warranted until 11 years due to the heavy themes of family conflict and parental separation, with particularly sensitive children potentially needing guidance for longer. Parents may want to note that this film has several strobe lighting sequences.

The main message from this movie is that while life isn’t always perfect, you can always rely on each other to get you through any of life’s changes.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Overcoming your fears.
  • The importance of family.
  • Accepting others for who they are.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • Stevie and Elliot’s parents mention that no matter what happens between them, they will always be a family and love the children. Parents may want to discuss with their children, family dynamics and how to cope with family strain.
  • Stevie ends up in hospital, and that is what brings her family back together. Parents may want to note any problematic implications this may have and discuss this with their children.
  • The key feature of this film is about young children struggling with the possibility of their parents separating. While this film may function as a good talking point, it may be particularly distressing for children who are struggling with similar circumstances.