Teenager Riley's mind 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...
One question has ravaged the mind of Pixar fans these past couple years: with Disney’s leash still wrapped firmly around their necks, can they still churn out classics the way they have before or has their recent imprecisions intruded on their own legacy to where they can’t quite recover?
“Inside Out 2” proves that sometimes when you doubt them, that’s when they’re at their strongest.
Taking over from Pete Docter, Kelsey Mann’s aim as director is truly remarkable; while nothing groundbreaking, he tiptoes through this developmental stage the way any concerned parent would with careful precision and evolves with the formula already established instead of breaking it.
It shouldn’t have to bare repeating how marvelous and superbly constructive Pixar’s animation style is, but this might be some of the company's most ingeniously inventive work carrying over from the previous film, which keeps taking me back by surprise due to how simple it all is. Between being gorgeously vibrant and incredible with color theory further bolstered by very imaginatively rendered settings with very meticulous and beautifully modelled backgrounds, you can expect every individual image to pop off the screen despite it being par for the course for the studio.
Presentation wise, a lot of how it portrays emotions and memories creating a belief system and sense of self take up more of a spiritual, abstract distillation of change, angst and solitude that the production design gladly leans into; the sharp imagery and lighting on top of clever character designs match and layer both the emotions and characters more than ideally. Any and all cinematography that compounds it has clear composition, framing and exposure while not wasting a single image, editing further compliments its simplicity, its rampant pacing thankfully doesn’t deter from any natural selections of creativity and sure, Michael Giacchino’s absence doesn’t go unnoticed in regards to the musical score but Andrea Datzman’s rendition is every bit as sparkling and rousing to keep in touch with that familiarity.
The ranged vulnerability from previously varies depending on the performances but it’s clear their best is what they’re giving here and nobody’s half-assing it; Maya Hawke and Amy Poehler in particular gave out the best performances and make the most out the films best bits of dialogue, most of which is already sturdily written and somehow more hilarious than the first film. And I am so thankful they did not regress any of the characters, nor did they treat Anxiety or any of the other new emotions as clear-cut villains.
Given the first Inside Out was one of those stories where a sequel actually felt like a welcome warranty, the bare minimum needed to be done in this story to be taken seriously as a natural expansion into the world of puberty and growing up and for the most part, it blazes past that front: it’s more of the same but it practically writes itself and feels like a natural progression from before. The story this time around is deftly sensitive to its own awkwardness but more receptive and accepting of it, continuing to use its elusive emotional analysis to capture the complexity of the emotional battle, using Riley's emotional state to show us how we all must find the right methods to cope with the obstacles we face in life to grow into the best version of ourselves.
You can argue the conflict at hand isn’t as complex as the first film, especially as its much easier to see where this film’s headed than before (then again, both films are chocked to the brim with cliches) but given how close it stays to familiar neural pathways but expands the outer universe just the predetermined amount, there should be no qualms about easily this conforms to the ethos, pathos and logos of the original without actively retreading all its plot points.
The first film was a much bigger story during a trivial time in Riley’s life whereas here, the narrative being told is much smaller but the events happening to Riley now are much more pivotal to her gradual growth and development so it still feels like a big leap. If not to let your circumstances define you was a gradual takeaway for the first Inside Out, not letting your emotions define you is my takeaway for Inside Out 2. We all know a thing or two about new impulses running roughshod over our younger selves and throwing our internal compass out of whack the older we get but that’s just the process of growing up: it’s often messy and complicated, but can be just as rewarding too. Loving someone unconditionally means loving all of them despite your best intentions, including their imperfections and mistakes. You can't always protect yourself or those you love from hard times, embarrassing moments, or pain, and you’d honestly be a fool if you tried; how else do you expect us to grow? And pushing all your problems aside and ignoring them only hampers that growth.
Cute, fascinating overall watch for the kids but I’d like to believe it’s more mandatory viewing for adults.
That being said, a point of contention I keep seeing reared in is Inside Out 2 says less with more while its predecessor says more with less and on some level, I can agree.
I’m all for the movies internal logic testing our own belief system but for all the emphasis they place on forgotten memories and shifting beliefs in the back of the mind, not everything the film sets up gets enough time or proper care to really nail just how much of Riley is shifting. The film only SPARINGLY manages to juggle all of these new characters and concepts together within the story at the same time but you can tell a few instances where they do struggle a little to maintain that balance.
After a rather frantic period of soul-searching for Pixar, I hesitate to say that they’ve found their stride again but to have a sequel like this be on par with, if not somewhat surpass the original Inside Out, was one genuine surprise I did not have on my bucket list. Not just a seamless continuation but a much needed robust win for the studio.
