LOS ANGELES Nov 13 (Reuters) - When director Alex Woo

pitched the animated Netflix ( NFLX ) film "In Your Dreams" to actor Simu

Liu, Liu was fascinated by the opportunity to show a real family

that argues.

"The way that families are depicted, especially to a lot of

children, is this idea that families are always happy, always

smiling. They never fight. And it's just not true," said Liu,

the China-born Canadian star of Marvel movie "Shang-Chi" in

2021.

"I think it's important that kids have imagery of families

that aren't perfect."

"In Your Dreams" opens in theaters on Friday. The

adventure-comedy film was animated by Sony Pictures Imageworks.

Director Woo started as a storyboard artist at legendary

animation studio Pixar and worked on films like "Ratatouille,"

"WALL·E" and "Cars 2."

The plot centers on the journey of sister Stevie, voiced by

Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, and brother Elliot, voiced by Elias

Janssen, in search of The Sandman, who can magically save their

parents' marriage.

Emmy winner Cristin Milioti as Mom and "The Office" actor

Craig Robinson as the stuffed animal Baloney Tony round out the

voice cast.

Milioti, who won a Grammy for the album "Once," said her

duet with Liu, on a song that shows the strained couple in

harmony, was a highlight.

"I think that song is really great and it is such a

beautiful moment in the film too," she said.

Hoang-Rappaport's character grapples with the discovery that

there is no magic solution to real-life problems.

Stevie thinks, "I can fix this on my own and everything can

be fixed...I can keep my family together," the teen actor said.

But Stevie's journey ends with the same truth Liu wanted to

show: Real families fight, and fixing things takes more than a

dream. Life does not always go the way that people plan.