I can’t believe it’s been 9 years since Inside Out came out. I remember how much I loved it back in 2015 and how it was just screaming for a sequel. Well luckily, they took their time with it to get it just right so it can live up to the legacy of the first, and it’s finally arrived. So what is it like?
Plot
Riley has turned 13 and her emotions have guided her to grow a strong sense of self. However, one night the headquarters is rocked by the onset of puberty, and the arrival of 4 new emotions, led by Anxiety. Anxiety’s influence sends Riley into a spiral as her core emotions are banished in favour of the new recruits. Joy and the others then have to make it back to headquarters to return Riley to her normal self.
Puberty was the obvious place to go with a sequel (and was alluded to in the original film) so it’s no surprise that that’s what they did, but the question was always how they would do it. I think what they did with it was really clever, not only adding the new emotions but adding new elements to the way Riley’s mind works as she matures. It meant they weren’t just rehashing the previous story just with new characters, but had new adversities to overcome instead.
Characters
All the characters from the original film are back and the same as ever (despite a couple of the voice actors being different) so I’m sure your favourites from back then will still feel the same to you. I was always a big fan of Joy and Disgust myself. Amy Poehler really was born to play Joy and you can tell just how much she loves voicing the character, which translates into star power as she leads this movie completely.
However if we wanna talk about star power we have to talk about Maya Hawke in the role of Anxiety, because she really gives Poehler a run for her money as the main antagonist of the film and de facto new leader of Riley’s mind. I think the feeling of anxiety is something we’re all extremely familiar with so Hawke and Pixar had a tough job to try and embody that in a character and they definitely pulled it off. The way she skittishly moves around and the frazzled look she has, as well as the way she takes over so swiftly and absolutely. There’s a scene towards the end that really gets the experience of intense anxiety dead on.
I also enjoyed Ayo Edebiri as Envy, who kind of became a henchman to Anxiety, but she had this adorable little squeaky voice along with it, which really put across the insecurity that envy brings. There was also Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser) who was the nicest of the new group and develops a really sweet relationship with Sadness, as he would. The only new character that felt a little underdeveloped was Ennui who, despite being French which was a hilarious touch, didn’t really have much to do besides being a little sarcastic; I didn’t really get her purpose.
World
There was so much world-building in the original film, with establishing the different areas and aspects of the mind, that I didn’t see how much more they could really add-in. But my god did they have plenty of new ideas. There was so much more to explore and learn about in the world of Riley’s mind, as well as the chance to revisit some of the old places, like Imagination Land. And they managed to explain the addition of some new places in the mind cleverly, as Riley’s mind is simply expanding and maturing as she grows. This also opens the possibility of new places to explore in the next film.
My personal favourite addition to the mind was the belief system, where Riley’s memories can spawn beliefs about herself that come together to form her sense of self (the MacGuffin of the movie). I liked how this sense of self was also able to pilot Riley somewhat remotely without the emotions having to take full control. Which was a great way to symbolize how as you grow you become less of a slave to your emotions and adapt to situations more innately. It’s all just very creative and clever.
Animation
I obviously rewatched the original film before I saw this one, and one of the things that always stood out about it was the use of colour. Inside Out is a very bright and striking in its character and world design and has this almost glittery watercolour effect to the design of the mind sections. They obviously kept that around for the sequel and things are just as bright and whimsical in her mind. They also had some fun with different animation styles which is always fun to see, including paper stop motion, 2D and a glitchy video game character.
But what stood out to me was the outside of the mind sections, aka the real world. I hadn’t really realized just how far we had come in terms of photorealism in Pixar animation until I watched these two films back to back. Obviously, the human characters are still cartoonish in their look and proportions so as not to cross into the uncanny valley, but they still feel more real looking. And as for the environments, we’ll they may as well have been live action with how scarily good they looked.
Future
The movie seems to be doing pretty well already so I have no doubt its success will result in Disney greenlighting another movie in the series. Amy Poehler has already said she’d like to keep playing Joy in future movies. Obviously growing up comes with many emotional challenges and new emotions to face so there are plenty of places to go with this concept. However, the older Riley gets, the harder it’s going to be to keep things family-friendly and relatable to kids, so I’d be interested to see how they navigate that hurdle. I’ll definitely be seated for an Inside Out 3 though!
Pixar
Now, Pixar has had me worried recently when they announced their plans for the future. Their last few movies haven’t done so well financially so they have obviously been a little worried. So, as a result, they said they were going to focus less on original ideas, citing Turning Red and Luca as examples of ‘directors’ autobiographies’ that didn’t do well, and instead focus on existing popular IPs. And that’s really disappointing. They seem to have forgotten that the reason those two movies didn’t make money is because Disney forced them to go straight to Disney+, but people still loved them. Also, Lightyear was based on an existing sting brand (perhaps their strongest) and that tanked critically AND commercially. The only thing that proved their point was Elemental, which despite being a great movie (one of my favourite films of last year) didn’t do so well when it was first released (though it did actually make plenty of money as it stayed in cinemas).
But completely panicking and deciding to stifle new ideas after one hiccup is not the way to go. Obviously, it’s great to get sequels to the films we love like Inside Out, but I truly hope the success doesn’t spur them on to continue this ludicrous plan and run this studio, once known for its phenomenal creativity, off the creative cliff. I guess we have to hope that Elio helps put things back on track next year.
I don’t think there was much chance that they would screw up this movie with how well they executed the original, but thank god they didn’t! If you lived Inside Out I’d definitely recommend seeing this new instalment. You won’t regret it
Jeremy Greer 