Danish kids’ flick offers dark delights
Dreambuilders (PG, 81mins) Directed by Kim Hagen Jensen and Tonni Zinck
Reviewed by James Croot ★★★1⁄2
This Danish animated tale was not what I expected. Instead, I encountered a deceptively deep drama about a young chess-obssessed woman whose life is thrown into turmoil when her father begins a new relationship.
This isn’tThe Queen’s Gambit either – that acclaimed Netflix series certainly didn’t feature a hamster named Viggo Mortensen.
Made by a directing duo whose combined previous credits include All Dogs Go To Heaven and The Neon Demon, with a thoughtful screenplay crafted by Borgen assistant director Soren Grinderslev Hansen, Dreambuilders feels like Monsters Inc in reverse, combined with elements magpied from darker tales like What Dreams May Come, Coraline, Inside Out, The Truman Show, Back to the Future, and Single White Female.
At its heart, Dreambuilders is the story of Minna (Robyn Dempsey). Still hurting from her mother’s departure to pursue her dream of becoming a country music star, the young teen isn’t best pleased when her dad (Tom Hale) starts dating again. Then, when he announces that Helene (Karen Ardiff) and her daughter Jenny (Emma Jenkins) are coming to live with them, she’s extremely perturbed. ‘‘Why do they have to move in?’’ she opines.
Not only is social mediaobsessed Jenny disdainful of Minna’s eclectic fashion sense, she thinks Viggo is a ‘‘filthy rat’’. With the pair forced to share a room and Jenny quickly ousting Minna from her bed, the latter’s only respite is at night, when she can escape into her dreams. But even there, something is amiss.
Losing her footing, she knocks a hole through a wall. Strangely continuing the same vision the following evening, she finds a group of little blue men who seemingly engineer her nocturnal narratives. They’re co-ordinated by Gaff (Luke Griffin), whose job it is to ensure her dreams follow a set script. However, dismayed by her increasing unhappiness, he’s allowed things to stray from the path.
As Gaff reluctantly shows her the inner-workings of dream building, Minna discovers how suggestions made in this realm can affect real life. At first, it’s just persuading her father that he loves anchovies. But then, Minna hatches a plan that she hopes will ensure Jenny changes her fixed views and, if not, will ensure she never bothers Minna again.
Not everyone will be a fan of the chunky animation style, but there are enough laughs, intrigue and innovation to ensure the slim running time flies by.