A follow-up made perfect sense. Since Riley, the adolescent, was just going to become bigger, there would inevitably be more chances to see more emotional experiences. Puberty, the next natural step for her, is delivered in Inside Out 2, which leads to yet another crazy journey inside her head. But the outcomes didn’t exactly make me feel the way I had hoped. It’s an unimpressive outcome, but it’s still enjoyable in some places and undoubtedly pleasing for those who are more in line with Riley—coming from a company that usually matches the scowls in response to rumors of a sequel with excellent follow-ups.
Riley (Kensington Tallman, filling in for Kaitlyn Dias) has just turned 13 and is about to start high school in this sequel, which takes place soon after the events of the previous movie. In terms of fostering Riley’s strong sense of self—actualized as a luminous MacGuffin—her emotions, Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale), and Disgust (Liza Lapira), are all in harmony.
When the puberty alarm goes off and new emotions show up like intruders, everyone becomes irritated. This includes Anxiety (Maya Hawke), who makes the biggest attempt to alter what Joy and the others have laboriously created. Riley is spending the final few days at a hockey camp with her closest friends while all of this is going on. There, she wants to make friends with a senior hockey player and maybe form a new friendship group. To put it mildly, these are very emotional times.
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Something about this environment seems to be off-putting to me, and it has to do with Riley’s real-world reactions contrasted with the way emotions work. This makes sense to me in some places, and I always like it when movies show what’s going through other people’s minds. Little moments also resonate with me since there are relevant elements in the action. I only realize that I’m overanalyzing Riley’s mental world’s logic when I imagine what it would be like to see her apart from all of the emotional activity.
Alright, so it’s obvious that filmmaker Kelsey Mann, writer Meg LeFauve, and director Dave Holstein—not to mention Pete Docter, who directed the previous movie—have given this considerably more consideration than I have. Say that’s not the problem and that it’s just me being petty. That’s okay with me, but what else is there in this sequel? Though the movie takes a unique tack by suggesting that puberty brings with it a plethora of new emotions, I don’t believe it does a very good job of depicting an excess of emotions beyond methods that seem (like the previous movie) like narrative devices to advance drama. Even if we are within the body, the narrative doesn’t seem very natural. The fact that we follow Joy, who seems to be repeating the lessons she has previously learned—that Riley has to mature, that she must embrace new emotions—does not help.
Still, because this is Pixar, there must be some positive aspects. Indeed, this is accurate. Excellent animation work is still being done to properly portray this fantastical universe, even if there isn’t a noticeable improvement in visual quality. I want to see more of a step into something that seems really artistically new at some point soon, but Pixar isn’t exactly failing to deliver with what they excel at, especially with this picture, Soul, and Elemental. Keeping that in mind, Michael Giacchino’s vitality is lacking, even though Andrea Datzman crafts a beautiful soundtrack to go with the vibrant images.
This movie has a good number of humor. When it comes to which Pixar cartoons make me laugh harder than others, I have my favorites. Nevertheless, there are some funny moments in here, like a reference to a video game and a character from a childhood TV program that seemed like they were made just for me. I wish there had been more visual innovation in this area since the first movie seemed to have more of a spark to bring some funny moments to life. In contrast, I felt like we were going over what we had been used to by now. That said, the “Sar-Casm” concept is A+.
If I had to analyze all the feelings, I guess the other noteworthy thing about every Pixar movie would have to be how much effort it takes to make the adults weep as the kids have fun with whatever crazy, colorful thing it throws at them next. I didn’t need a Bing Bong to like Inside Out 2, but I did feel that there wasn’t an emotional conclusion. Although I can see the spots meant to prickle some dry eyes in the cinema, I can’t say I felt anything from them.
It raises questions about the potential impact of demography. However, I didn’t have to be a PTSD-stricken fish to relate to the feelings I had when I let my disabled fish kid go out into the world and assist others. Yes, even though I was acting like an adult and wasn’t allowing Inside Out 2 to affect me, I am aware of how this studio operates and have happily given in to their schemes on many occasions in the past. Maybe hitting me with a blow to the head isn’t the best approach.
Aside from mocking efforts to have adults weep uncomfortably next to their children, I will admit that Inside Out 2 touches on a few themes related to anxiety and how it may interact with other emotions such as joy, sorrow, fear, etc. Maybe some more work keeping these people close together might have produced some more insightful scenes. Even yet, I can understand that there won’t be an abundance of in-depth conversations in these movies. I can see the work being done and enjoy it, even if I’m coming from a position where I’m trying to accept the good that’s here rather than becoming too infatuated with this environment.
That’s about right—mixed emotions—but who knows what Riley and this group of moods will get up to next? I may have preferred to explore other parts of the Pixar universe, such as Parisian restaurants or dystopian trash heaps, but Inside Out 2 is not without its attractions. My only desire is that I felt more aligned with its intended outcome.
