It is absolutely incredible to me that Pixar could make an animated film about our emotions and what goes on in our heads that catered to both children and adults alike. ‘Inside Out’ was a monumental feat of imagination and excellent world-building and, to no surprise, the team of director Kelsey Mann and screenwriters Meg LaFauve and Dave Holstein were able to capture lightning once more because ‘Inside Out 2’ is just as powerful and moving as the first without losing any of the laughs and thrills that made the first one so endearing.
Riley is older now, a teenager, and that means puberty is going to hit her and it comes with new emotions. The original crew in Riley’s headquarters – Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Fear, and Anger – must make room now for Anxiety, Embarrassment, Envy, and Ennui. As a teen, Riley is experiencing great changes and when she and her two best friends, Bree and Grace, are invited to join a hockey camp, all these changes will come to a head as she starts to grow up and face the teenagers first major life hurdle: how to belong and fit in with society.
As Riley is growing up, the creative team behind ‘Inside Out 2’ worked to expand the world building started in the first movie. Now that she’s older, Riley is forming her core personality, which is made up of core memories that her emotions put into her consciousness. All of this comes into play as Joy and Anxiety battle it out for dominance over Riley’s big decisions now that she’s approaching high school and she has a chance to be friends with a cool upperclassman, who is also the best hockey player in her school.
There’s an intricate way by which the Mann, LeFauve, and Holstein manage to work out the story that allows us to see how our minds react (or reacted, when we were that age) to the world around us and how these actions have serious repercussions to the way we thought about ourselves. As we see in the trailer, the film dramatizes the ways (and reasons) why Riley would bottle up her emotions, how she develops sarcasm at that age (and what it is used for), and the importance of being able to manage our emotions. The first movie was able to turn our inner world, our innermost thoughts as the setting of a great adventure. This time, that world is made even bigger that includes a huge vault of secrets and the changing landscape of a teenager’s mind.
And at the heart of it all, despite all the hilarious gags and jokes that are woven seamlessly into the fabric of this narrative, is a wonderful coming-of-age story for Riley and for each of her emotions, most notably for Joy and the new emotion, Anxiety.
Amy Poehler does a wonderful job at making Joy all that her name embodies but it’s when she reaches her tipping point and finds a moment of vulnerability that everything just clicks for the whole film. Maya Hawke does a spirited job at making Anxiety such a powerhouse and a scene-stealer. While everyone does amazing at bringing their characters to life, it is Liza Lapira as Disgust who managed to shine. Her dialogue and her delivery were so sharp and precise that she managed to stand out.
Equally important is the way by which ‘Inside Out 2’ visualizes and dramatizes an anxiety attack. I have friends who have major anxiety attacks and I’ve always wondered what it feels like when they get paralyzed in that manner. This movie managed to show it without being preachy. It comes organically in the story and makes full use of cinematic language and the dynamism of the animated medium to fully realise the effect of it. I’ve always empathized over people suffering from anxiety attacks but now I feel like I have a grasp of what’s happening.
It’s really amazing that a movie can manage to do this, to bring us into something so abstract as an anxiety attack but without sacrificing the writing or the direction of the movie. ‘Inside Out 2’ is an eye-opener but it’s also engaging, funny, thrilling, and heartwarming in all the right places and tone.
In the cinema, all the kids were laughing and enjoying themselves while all the adults were holding back tears. It’s a wonderful balance that they’ve managed to do again.
My Rating:
Inside Out 2 is now showing! Check showtimes and buy tickets here.
