Earlier in the year, Pixar released Inside Out 2, the sequel to Inside Out (2015). This quickly became not only the highest-grossing film of the year but also the highest-grossing animated film of all time. With the popularity of a film comes the idea from within to turn it into a franchise, and that’s exactly what Pixar has decided to do with Inside Out and its first miniseries, Dream Productions.
Dream Productions is an interquel that takes place between the events of Inside Out (2015) and Inside Out 2. It follows the team that is in charge of controlling the dreams that Riley has, and in particular we follow Paula Persimmon (Paula Pell), who teams up with Xeni (Richard Ayoade) to create the next big tween dream.
While Inside Out follows the various emotions that control Riley, Dream Productions spends its time showcasing to the audience how exactly dreams are operated within Riley, and if it wasn’t obvious from the name, it operates exactly like a movie studio. What easily sets this apart from the Inside Out films is that it takes the form of a mockumentary, making it an extremely engaging and fun watch.
In Inside Out, the emotions have their core memories, whereas in Dream Productions, they have their hits, which they get from a successful dream that affects Riley’s life positively. Similarly to how a lot can go wrong on a movie set, the same can happen when it comes to creating a dream for Riley. Paula is a character that’s afraid of change and is oblivious to what Riley needs. This gets her into various situations, such as almost being fired numerous times by her boss, Jean Dewberry (Maya Rudolph), or being delegated to working with Xeni, Jean’s nephew, who is this obnoxious art house director.
Inside Out feels relatable to kids who are within Riley’s age group and are going through the same experiences and emotions that she is, but Dream Productions feels much more relatable as it revolves around the ideas of dreams and how they’re created. There are days when people don’t dream at all or days when they end up dreaming about something completely random; this show takes advantage of its creativity to explore similar aspects such as sleepwalking and lucid dreaming.
The animation is almost just as good as the theatrical films; at times it’s hard to tell if there’s any real difference, but as this was made concurrently with Inside Out 2, it’s very likely there’s no downgrade with the animation at all. This also explains why Amy Poehler, Lewis Black, Tony Hale, Liza Lapira, Phyllis Smith, Kyle Maclachlan, Diane Lane, and Kensington Tallman return to play their respective characters from Inside Out 2, allowing this to truly feel like it’s part of the world.
If you thought Joy, Disgust, Anger, Sadness, and Fear would only appear as one-time cameos, then you’re wrong, as they appear in every episode as they witness the mayhem Dream Productions gets up to when in charge of Riley. The vocal performances are also outstanding, with Richard Ayoade bringing that humorous and sarcastic energy that helps make his character the most fun to watch in the entire show.
Dream Productions is Inside Out meets Abbott Elementary, and it’s the perfect combination for what is a hilarious and heartfelt show that pokes fun at the film industry but also shows the difficulties of trying to break into or stay relevant in a career that has so much competition and demanding tasks at every corner.
It’s a shame that this was only limited to four episodes, as this easily could’ve been a ten-episode series, and I’d love to see more from the team at Dream Productions, or maybe Pixar will decide to create another miniseries that focuses on another aspect of Riley. Either way, it seems like Inside Out will have a lot to offer as a franchise.
Dream Productions is NOW streaming on Disney+
