- Release year: 2025
- Director: Paul Spurrier.
- Producer: David Allen Cluck.
- Screenplay by: Jiriya Spurrier and Paul Spurrier.
- Cinematography by: Paul Spurrier.
- Music by: Mickey Wongsathapornpat.
Synopsis: a little girl runs away from her abusive stepfather after the death of her mother in order to find a real home to grow up in.
Shotgun Commentary: a musical that only works for an incredibly niche audience.
Review
Dream! is a musical that follows the adventures of a girl who is trying to find her forever home after being forced to leave her actual household. Every experience that she lives has one or two songs that reinforce the main ideas of each tale, as well as the mindset of the characters featured in it. It is not a musical for everyone, but if you happen to be its target audience, you’ll probably love it.
The child boom
Remember those decades when having children on TV programmes was all the rage? You know the ones, from the 70s to the 90s, when all shows had kids singing, dancing, or saying random “not at all scripted” stuff? Well, this feels very much like a film for the audiences that enjoyed those programmes.
Sadly, if listening to the high pitch, borderline ultrasound, voices of a bunch of children is not your particular brand of entertainment, this won’t be a particularly pleasant experience. Still, there is a chance that you might enjoy it, and this statement comes from a children-hating person who actually managed to have a nice time watching it: me.
All in
The very beginning of the film might get on your nerves, let’s not sugarcoat it. The prompt doesn’t make sense, the song is annoying if you don’t like high-pitched kiddie voices, and the whole concept seems like a hot mess. That being said, it does get better as the film progresses. Way better, in fact, but let’s analyse first why you might loathe the first few minutes of this otherwise quaint story.
Everything begins in a rural school in Thailand, where the kids are hearing about Santa Claus for the very first time. Nobody celebrates that tradition in there, and the kids were happy. So the question is, why would anyone promise a bunch of children that Santa Claus will come bring them presents in a place where the parents are completely unaware of, and sometimes also unable to follow, this tradition? Or, as the teacher puts it, in a place where Santa Claus never goes. Is it to make them feel less than? To create a craving they can’t achieve so that they will forever want to be better kids and constantly think that they are not enough when they receive nothing on Christmas day?
No matter how you frame it, it makes no sense and there are a thousand other ways that the main character could’ve found out about Santa Claus. Not to mention that beginning a musical with a song sang by a bunch of children with no apparent musical training might not be the best choice. A bold move that serves to weed out the weak pretty early on.
The climb
Surprisingly, the film only goes up from there, a fact that is hinted at with the second song. A track sang by the mother of the protagonist, about how her low self-esteem and a staggering lack of sexual education landed her with a kid and in an abusive marriage.
Matters escalate from there, leading the protagonist, Lek (Amata Masmalai), to run away from her home in search of a better one. In her journey, she encounters all sorts of people from different economical and social backgrounds. As expected, they all come with their own song or songs, some more fortunate than others, but all equally entertaining textually.
All in all, Dream! is the type of film that you need to give a chance to. Much like watching the first three episodes of a show instead of just the pilot, this feature needs a little time to convert the non-believers. Still, if you make it through the first three musical numbers, you can decide whether to keep watching or end it there without any remorse. The feature is original enough to be worth the watch, especially if you can get past the very first number.
Advice to take from this movie:
- A bold musical number can make or break a whole film, choose your tracks carefully.
- A Disney-like will always work for a movie protagonised by kids.
- Ending a film with the cinematic equivalent of a Hallmark commercial can go very well or terribly wrong.
What’s your take? Have you watched Dream!? Don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, or leave a message in my contact page! For more reviews and cinema-related articles, check out the rest of my blog! 😀