Jolie Hoang-Rappaport’s ‘In Your Dreams’ Character Learns Hard Truth

Teen actor Jolie Hoang-Rappaport is the voice of Stevie, the young protagonist in the new animated film “In Your Dreams,” and her character goes on a journey of difficult discovery. Stevie, along with her brother Elliot (Elias Janssen), ventures into a magical world to find The Sandman, believing he can save her parents’ failing marriage. But the film’s core lesson is that magic can’t solve everything.
Hoang-Rappaport described her character’s mindset: “Stevie thinks, ‘I can fix this on my own and everything can be fixed… I can keep my family together.'” The film, which opens Friday, is about Stevie “grappling with the discovery that there is no magic solution to real-life problems.” It’s a mature theme for an animated adventure-comedy.
This dose of reality is exactly what the film’s creative team intended. Director Alex Woo, a Pixar veteran, aimed to tell a different kind of family story. Star Simu Liu, who voices Stevie’s father, was “fascinated” by this premise. The ‘Shang-Chi’ actor has been vocal that the “always happy” family trope is “not true” and that “it’s important that kids have imagery of families that aren’t perfect.”
The film, animated by Sony Pictures Imageworks, also features a stellar supporting cast. Emmy winner Cristin Milioti voices the Mom, and “The Office” star Craig Robinson voices a stuffed animal, Baloney Tony. Milioti even performs a “beautiful” duet with Liu, offering a brief glimpse of the family harmony Stevie is fighting for.
Stevie’s journey ends with the same truth that Simu Liu championed. As Hoang-Rappaport’s character learns, real families fight, and fixing things takes more than a dream. The film’s powerful conclusion is that life doesn’t always go the way people plan, a lesson that resonates with audiences of all ages.