Dreambuilders

A young girl dealing with the introduction of a new stepmother and sister finds a way to manipulate people via their dreams.

This sounds like a great idea with lots of scope for fantastic dream worlds: a real chance to let ones imagination run wild.

This is not that film. The film is centered around the girls change in family circumstances; the dream world is little more than a mechanic to explore her relationships and is not particularity interesting or detailed. Instead this feels very much like an educational film, I half expected a teacher to appear in front of the animation and say "and that is how we learn sharing."

All the characters are very clearly defined by their roles to the point that they have no personality, only singular flaws to be arbitrated.

Thanks to Pixar many modern cartoons have elements designed to keep adults amused - this does not.

It is nice that a film is targeted directly at children and is something for them, but leaves adults glancing at their phones. Also, I wonder how many children want to spend their Saturday watching a well animated, hour-long episode of Sesame Street. I wouldn't have.

This is well animated and voice acted but lacks the care and attention that the big bucks of Pixar can afford and lacks the wildness of a true indie film.

I suppose this could be helpful if you are in the process of uniting two families together but I think going out for ice-cream or watching Monsters Inc. would be more effective.