Dream Productions TV Review: Pixar's Inside Out spin-off is as good as the movies

PLOT: Taking place in between the events of Inside Out and Inside Out 2, it follows the studio inside Riley’s mind where dreams really do come true—every night, on time and on budget. Riley is growing up and when her memories need some extra processing, Joy and the rest of the Core Emotions send them to Dream Productions.

REVIEW: Since the premiere of Disney+, the House of Mouse has mined all of their various properties for streaming adaptations, spin-offs, or tie-ins. Pixar, who are no stranger to creating quality short films, have offered a few projects that stretch the definition of what we would consider a series. The Toy Story spin-off Forky Asks a Question, Cars On the Road, and Up series Dug Days all had episodes that ran under ten minutes each, with the Monsters Inc. sequel series Monsters At Work reaching full half-hour installments but without the main actors that led the films. The new series Dream Productions falls somewhere in the middle, with episodes clocking in at the half-hour mark but a full season comprised of only four episodes. While it does center on different characters inside Riley, the talents of Amy Poehler, Lewis Black, and others from the films make appearances, giving Dream Productions the feel of an organic expansion of the world of Inside Out.

Both Inside Out films gave us a look inside the mind of a young girl, Riley Andersen (voiced by Kensington Tallman, reprising her role from the sequel). In the first movie, Riley’s basic emotions are a struggle between Joy (Amy Poehler) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith), vying to be the young girl’s primary feeling as she moves from Minnesota to San Francisco. In the sequel, Riley’s emotions became more complex with the introduction of Anxiety (Maya Hawke) and her crew of teenage feelings. Dream Productions fits between the two films as twelve-year-old Riley and her best friends Grace and Bree try to convince her to go to a school dance. A lot of the conflicting thoughts in the pre-teen’s mind are visualized while she sleeps by the Hollywood studio-esque Dream Productions. The series, presented in a mockumentary style, follows the creative talents in the dream department of Riley’s mind. Led by Paula Persimmon (Paula Pell), the various directors of Riley’s different dreams try to grow with Riley’s shifting personality as she gets older. When Paula’s trusted assistant Janelle (Ally Maki) is promoted, she must contend with whether she is still a capable director that fits Riley’s needs.

The core conflict at the center of Dream Productions echoes the same plot from Inside Out and Inside Out 2 as well as Pixar’s Monsters, Inc., which all follow a central character who must realize they cannot do things alone and must open themselves up to others with their own ideas. Those other personalities include Xeni (Richard Ayoade), a hipster daydream director hoping to move into night dreams. Paula, Janelle, and Xeni all work for studio head Jean Dewberry (Maya Rudolph) who demands better dreams that Riley will actually remember when she wakes up. Paula, riding on successful dreams made when Riley was much younger, is resistant to Janelle and Xeni’s input, which sets them at odds with one another and leads to a series of disastrous dreams. While Riley’s experience verges on nightmare territory, we get glimpses of Joy, Sadness, Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Liza Lapira), and Fear (Tony Hale) as they watch the dreams unfold from their headquarters. The Inside Out crew does not amount to much more than cameos, but they also fit into the plot rather than being shoehorned in as a cash grab.

Paula Pell, who had voice roles in Netflix’s Big Mouth and Monsters at Work and the series Girls5eva, is a hilarious comedian and lends an earnest performance as the director struggles to remain relevant as she reprises her role seen briefly in the original movie. Paula appears in virtually every scene of Dream Productions and serves as the anchor character here, as Amy Poehler was in Inside Out. Both Paula and Joy start as resistant to change and insist they know what is best for Riley. However, Paula is not an emotion but a director, so her connection to Riley is presented slightly differently. All of the characters in these projects want what is best for Riley, but Paula and her coworkers do not always understand the impact of what they do until it is too late. Richard Ayoade also has Pixar experience, having been in Monsters at Work and the film Soul. His recognizable voice adds a hilarious lilt to playing Xeni, something younger viewers may not appreciate as much as their parents. Overall, the voice cast is all good, and the distinction of this series being a spoof of Hollywood and film productions gives it an extra boost in separating the similar plot structure from the Inside Out movies.

With each of the four episodes of Dream Productions clocking in at a half-hour, the entire series works almost like a feature film. Despite being episodic in nature, there is enough momentum to keep the story moving and engaging while expanding on Riley’s mind’s inner workings that complement both of the Inside Out films. There are several callbacks to characters introduced in Inside Out and teases of where Riley will eventually go in Inside Out 2, making Dream Productions the first inbetweenquel I can recall that works as well as either of the movies it is connected to. All four episodes of the series are written by Mike Jones (Luca, Soul), who makes his directorial debut as he helms two episodes of the series alongside Valerie LaPointe and Austin Madison. All three directors, echoing the three main characters in the series, bring their distinct experiences to a cohesive and unified story that could easily have worked as a feature film rather than an episodic release.

Dream Productions is the strongest Pixar production for Disney+ to date, which may not be saying much. As a big fan of the Inside Out films, I enjoyed Dream Productions much more than I thought I would. By keeping the episode count limited and focusing on delivering high-quality animation and a structured story, Dream Productions is a nice binge-watch that may not be as emotionally resonant as Inside Out but still tells an important story about growing up and what it means to be a person. Shifting the focus to dreams rather than emotions could also open the door to exploring other parts of Riley’s consciousness, maybe even those of other characters. I never expected to be as affected by an animated franchise as I have been with both of the feature films in this franchise and now with Dream Productions as well. A fun series that will work for kids and adults alike.

Dream Productions premieres all four episodes on December 11th on Disney+.