Inside Out 2
review by Bobby Blakey
Throughout the years Pixar has delivered some of the best animated films around. While some more recent ones haven’t gotten the audience, they deserve they are still on track to keep the content coming like only they can. In 2015 we met the emotions in Inside Out and now director Kelsey Mann is taking back to meet even more with Inside Out 2. The film features a great voice cast including Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Tony Hale, Liza Lapira and Maya Hawke. Could this next chapter in Riley’s emotional journey bring more of what made the first film so great or should it have been kept bottled up?
Inside Out 2 follows the mind of newly minted teenager Riley just as headquarters is undergoing a sudden demolition to make room for something entirely unexpected: new Emotions! Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust, who’ve long been running a successful operation by all accounts, aren’t sure how to feel when Anxiety shows up. And it looks like she’s not alone.
The first film was a clever angle on how they handled the emotions that could have easily not worked. I was surprised at how well it came together and with the subject matter it perfectly lends itself to this follow-up, but the trick is not just repeating the same stuff while not losing what made the first one so good. I figured this new entry would still entertain, but I didn’t expect to like it so much more than the first film as I did.
Once again, they have taken clever aspects to further expand the world of Riley’s mind to evolve with her own growth in life. This has given them a chance to not
only introduce new emotion characters, that are all fantastic, but also delve into new struggles of the teenager. The story beats in the real world aren’t anything we haven’t seen before and predictable, but being a film for kids will likely connect to the younger audience just fine. They don’t pull at the heartstrings as heavily this time around, but it’s not necessary for the story they are telling. There are plenty of heart felt moments that will no doubt bring the waterworks for some, but it doesn’t push that narrative like some Pixar films do.
Despite the familiar it goes all in within her emotional world and brings all the laughs and fun you expect and then some with some great new directions. They expand away from just the emotions into memories and so much more that has allowed them to not only bring in other new characters but a variety of animation styles that was a ton of fun to watch. I love the first film, but this one just brought so much more to the table and stepped its game up with laughs and creativity to be a better film for me.
Decide for yourself and check out Inside Out 2 in theaters now from Disney Pixar.
