Movie Review | Inside Out 2
I love a good Sunday matinee movie date. There’s usually less people in the theaters, the tickets are cheaper, and the timing works well enough to not throw off any of our other responsibilities. We heard great reviews that Inside Out 2 was a really good story, so we watched the first installment and quickly made plans to go see the second movie before it ended its theater run.
Just like my previous movie review, I’ll be sharing spoilers. If you haven’t seen it yet, this is your fair warning to pause, go see the movie, and then come back to hear my thoughts of the plot. If you’re like me and spoilers actually make you more interested in the content, blaze forward, you pioneer.
We watched the first Inside Out about a week before we decided to go see the sequel. We watched it on a Friday night while I made some fresh juice and worked on our grocery list and delivery order. It was such a great story that was both funny and sad in parts.
If you haven’t seen it, it follows the internal emotions of Joy, Anger, Fear, Sadness, and Disgust in 11-year old Riley’s head as she processes and deals with a recent move across the country. It portrayed the purpose of different emotions and how each is vitally important in different situations.
Initially, Joy struggled to see the benefit of Sadness to Riley. She hated how upset she got and tried her hardest to only let Riley have positive, happy memories and thoughts. Over the course of the movie, Joy went from slightly resenting Sadness, to realizing that without Sadness, Riley wouldn’t be able to reach out to her parents for help when she was overwhelmed or upset. Joy understood that at times, Sadness was what Riley really needed.
The control panel was updated at the end of the movie to give all five emotions more space to collaborate together on Riley’s behalf. It is also when the memories started taking on multiple colors, symbolizing the complexities of each event that happens to us. A memory might seem sad when it’s fresh, but upon retrospect, we come to appreciate and cherish what was, while making the best of what is.
I personally enjoyed the imagery of the movie and I really appreciated how each memory was represented as a colorful marble. It was beautiful with vivid colors and included cool mentions of normal processes like sleep to explain how the brain transitions memories of each day down into long term memory storage.
My husband really enjoyed the comedic relief Sadness provided throughout the entire movie. She had a lot of funny lines and was super relatable, even to an adult. My favorite characters were Joy, Anger, and Sadness. They all had hilarious quips and learned how to work together for Riley’s benefit. Much to my chagrin, I ended up crying when Riley’s childhood friend, “Bing Bong” sacrificed himself so Joy could get back to headquarters. I’m truly a sucker for emotional scenes.
Inside Out 2 was released on June 14th and is expected to have a 90 day theatrical run. Since we watched the first one on Disney Plus, we were contemplating if we wanted to wait until September for it to reach streaming services or if we wanted to go ahead and see the movie in theaters. We have one rainy weekend to thank for giving us that push to go on a movie date.
The second movie was set two years later and focused on 14-year-old Riley starting puberty and the introduction of Embarrassment, Anxiety, Envy, and Ennui that comes along with that challenging time in life. The story followed her to an exclusive hockey camp, where she struggled with her sense of self, wanting to fit in with the cool new kids, and dealing with the reality that her best friends wouldn’t be going to the same high school as her.
Riley started overreacting to the slightest inconveniences, which is so true for teenagers confused by their changing hormones. Her Sense of Self, the element that shapes her belief system, was initially filled with happy memories by Joy, but was soon broken by Anxiety trying to create a brand new version of Riley so she would be accepted. Unfortunately, Anxiety’s work created a belief that Riley wasn’t good enough.
It was such a creative way to see how anxiety can take over every aspect of our inner conversations and make us doubt ourselves and what we know to be true. The film showed Riley having an intense panic attack, and I’m sure we all can relate to that helpless feeling of spiraling out of control.
All of the emotions learned to work together to protect Riley without trying to change her into their version of who they wanted her to be. It’s a spot on depiction of the everyday complexities that we all experience emotionally. Happy moments sometimes get tainted by sadness once the activity is finished because we never want good things to end. Similarly, we can feel both embarrassment and fear when approaching any new situation that we’re unsure of.
My favorite characters were Embarrassment, Envy, and Sadness. Their punchlines were oh-so timely and they were a great supporting cast to the main characters. Even though Anxiety was the main focal point, she was giving…..overbearing, controlling, and unwilling to listen to any of the other emotions. Those traits alone made her a pretty unlikeable character in my opinion.
So far since its release, Inside Out 2 has grossed $1.443 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 2024. For both films, the production team consulted with psychologists to accurately portray the change of emotions across life stages. Dacher Keltner, Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, joined the team as a key consultant to decide which emotions should be introduced and at what point of the story.
Pixar also gathered a group of nine teenagers called “Riley’s Crew” to get realistic feedback on modern teenage life. Their input directly led to Nostalgia being written into the story and influenced multiple other scenes. Some of the developers and writers even studied their very own teenage daughters as inspiration for the film.
It’s easy to assume that animated movies and shows are just for kids, but after watching phenomenal titles like Star Wars: The Clone Wars, The Bad Batch, and Inside Out, I’ve come to really appreciate that style of content. There’s almost always jokes for adults that make it extremely funny and can fly over a kid’s head if need be. Usually the stories are well thought out and written, and often don’t include agendas like sexuality, politics, or anything controversial that could be included in the subliminal messaging.
Watching animated movies and series are a breath of fresh air for me, especially after enduring the catastrophe known as The Acolyte and the many agendas and narratives that were pushed throughout the season. I already see the potential for many more sequels to Inside Out that follow Riley’s journey through graduation, going to college, and even becoming a mom herself. The sky is truly limitless for Pixar and Disney as long as they continue to write great stories and emphasize them with beautiful animation.
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Signed,
Jessica Marie
