“Inside Out 2” Review
Joined by a new cast of emotions, the different elements of a young girl’s mind must find the right balance of coexistence in “Inside Out 2”, a sequel to the Academy Award winning film “Inside Out”.
In Pixar’s vast library of animated cinematic classics, “Inside Out” is a massive stand-out film that took the familiar idea of showing what goes on inside of us (even “The Magic School Bus” handled this) and took it in a direction that felt fresh and left a strong emotional impact. Every time I watch this film, I laugh and cry (sometimes at the same time) because of how well this film tapped into the emotions of being a kid and childhood struggles. It’s one of the most phenomenal Pixar films ever made and, unlike other films of Pixar and Disney, a story that I felt was deserving of a sequel. Now, after nine years, “Inside Out 2” has arrived and it is glorious. Not only does it advance the story in ways that I found to be fascinating but it keeps the charm, heart and, yes, emotion that made the original a classic.
A year after the first film, Riley (Kensington Tallman) has adjusted to life in San Francisco and has found strong friendships and purpose thanks to the hard work of her emotions Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Liza Lapira) and Fear (Tony Hale). When Riley is given the chance to attend a hockey camp with her best friends, all seems well. That is until her puberty alarm goes off and a whole new batch of emotions, Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebri), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos) and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), come in to put their own mark on Riley’s personality. When Anxiety’s plan for Riley’s future doesn’t sit well with the original emotions, they are banished to the back of Riley’s mind where they must find a way back to Headquarters before Riley is irreversibly put on a bad path.
Based on the synopsis, it sounds like “Inside Out 2” would consist of a lot of repeating since it’s about certain emotions going on a journey through Riley’s mind while the lack of these emotions hurts Riley and everyone learns a big lesson about how every emotion is valuable. While that does happen, there are a lot of differences that make this its own organic story and not a copy. All of the ideas the first film offered have been expanded upon with the stakes of this film no longer revolving around core memories but something even greater: Riley’s Sense of Self. Made from memories that create a system of beliefs, this shows the evolution of a person’s mind as they go from childhood to adolescence as more complex ideas and emotions are introduced.
I knew that I was in for a smart and stellar sequel when I discovered early on that Anxiety is not the film’s villain. If that had happened, I would have walked out of the theater. But this film is way too smart for that. Like the first entry, “Inside Out 2” has no villains. Anxiety is only an antagonist who wants the best for Riley but lets her negative tendencies push Riley to extremes much like how Joy’s relentless positivity was also harming Riley in the first film. Maya Hawke’s performance really sells this because you get this earnest sense of wanting to do right but Anxiety’s excessive planning and hyper-fixations can only end in disaster if left unchecked.
Amy Poehler and Phyllis Smith rekindle the warm spirit of friendship they developed in the previous film and, joined with the other emotions, the journey they all undertake is full of both strong laughs and powerhouse emotional sequences. New corners of the mind are explored, the interactions between emotions make for interesting banter and the overall story feels like a big step forward for both the emotions and Riley. Since all five of the original emotions are together, their interactions are a lot of fun and the addition of other characters make Riley’s arc all the more meaningful.
With the first film being about Sadness finding her purpose and Joy learning to take a step back and let go of control, “Inside Out 2” takes the moral into another direction as well as the focus. Instead of looking at moving to a new town, this film shows the struggles of making new friends and fitting in which is even more relatable. The Sense of Self is an especially fascinating element of the film since each of the emotions has their own idea of what Riley should believe in order to have a happy life. This is where the conflict comes from and the resolution is too good and too cathartic to spoil. All I can say is that if you do have anxiety or have had great stretches of it in your life, especially as a teenager, I have a feeling that watching “Inside Out 2” will provide you with a strong feeling of relief.
With “Cars” getting two sequels and “Monsters Inc.” getting a prequel, there’s no shortage of unnecessary additions in Pixar’s filmography. But that is not the case for “Inside Out 2”. It’s a worthy sequel that has just as much reason to be a classic as the first film. Furthermore, I want there to be even more films that show more emotions as Riley grows up. I want to see Riley in high school. Maybe she’ll go to college. Maybe she’ll have a career. Maybe she falls in love, has a family or backpacks in Europe. Who knows. This could be a long running series that tackles how our emotions change at various ages that could make for a fascinating franchise. Regardless, the two entries we have seen so far are both wonderful films for folks of all ages and “Inside Out 2” shows why sequels can be more than just a cash grab. Sometimes, they can take what was made and make it even better.
