Jeri Jacquin
Coming from SHOUT! Factory Kids, directors Kim Hagen Jensen and Tonni Zinck is the story of a young girl dealing with life changes with DREAMBUILDERS.
Minna (Robyn Dempsey) is a young girl who is happy with dad John (Tom Hale) and pet hamster Viggo but is feeling the pressure when dad moves in girlfriend Helene (Karen Ardiff) and attention seeking daughter Jenny (Emma Jenkins) into their home.
She finds an escape in sleep and discovers another world with dream-builder named Gaff (Luke Griffin) who explains to Minna how dreams happen. He also explains that interfering in someone else’s dream is a disaster. Under pressure from his dream-superiors, Gaff is working extra hard to make sure the dreams pass inspection.
During awake time, Jenny is threatening Viggo and Minna’s happy home life and that’s when she realizes there is one way to stop it all from happening. Enlisting the help of Gaff, Minna changes Jenny’s dreams so that she will be nicer.
The problem is, Jenny figures out what is happening and does things that hurt Minna deep. That’s when she goes overboard in dreamland and when it goes wrong, only Minna can make it right!
Dempsey as Minna is a young girl dealing with a missing mom and her dad’s new relationship. The changes are almost to much for her to take and adding a not-so-nice Jenny who turns her world upside down. Minna does things that are unlike her, and she cannot seem to stop herself.
Jenkins as Jenny is a girl who has a dad-issue and uses that as a reason to do act in a way that is selfish. Immediately taking over Minna’s home with her demands and fits puts her in a place to make it easy not to like her. When she realizes what Minna can do, she needs a friend to get back home.
Griffin as Gaff truly cares about Minna and wants to make her happy. Knowing that allowing her inside the dream building process could get him in trouble, he wants to help her. Hale as John is a dad who just wants his daughter to be happy and at the same time create the one thing he misses the most – a family. Ardiff as Helene has basically created a monster out of her own guilt and Jenny is the result.
Hamster Viggo Mortensen is just to cute for words, as is his namesake!
SHOUT! Factory has grown into a tremendous multi-platform media company. Releasing new animated features such as the exquisite Long Way North, and the epic fantasy Beauty and The Beast. Also, their own original horror film, Fender Bender gives fans a good scare. For more of what SHOUT Factor has to offer please visit www.shoutfactory.com.
DREAMBUILDERS is a story of dreams, hopes, nightmares, family, issues and everything in between. I kind of which I knew who my “Gaff” was so I could make a few changes to dreams here and there.
Mixed into the films themes is color, a bit of fun, delightful characters and animation. Going inside a world that we are not privy to, DREAMBUILDERS gives us all something to think about.
A cast of characters inside the dreams are fun, quirky, inventive, creative, scary and in some cases, a stickler for the dream rules. When things go haywire in Minna’s waking world, they all come to the rescue to help their young dream-ward get through it.
DREAMBUILDERS is a fanciful and sweet film that calls for cuddle time on the sofa to watch together with the family.
In the end – she gets inside the dreamworld!