Inside Out - Review Thread

I almost forgot. That short film about the volcano was... um... can we just give it the Oscar already? Also can my team of Oscar analysts ( iverdawg PG Cooper SnoBorderZero ) find out if that damn song is eligible for a nomination? If not, I'm gonna punch the fucking wall.

That's actually really cool.

The girl still plays hockey in the movie. It's just the scene where the dad is daydreaming during dinner.

What I wanna see again is the damn lava movie.

If one were to discuss the film landscape in the last twenty years or so, the subject of Pixar Animation studios is inevitable. Pixar made its first splash in 1995 with Toy Story, a film which has become a modern classic. In the following years, Pixar proved their debut was no fluke with a series of highly regarded films like Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, WALL-E, and Up. These films were beloved by children, but also by adults due to their clever writing, creativity, smart comedy, and emotionally resonant stories. 15 years after Toy Story, Pixar brought a close to the trilogy with Toy Story 3, an excellent film and one of 2010’s best. However the film also marked the end of Pixar’s golden era. The next film from the studio would be Cars 2, a sequel to Pixar’s most uninspired film to begin with and an all-around terrible movie. Next was Brave, which came and went to little fanfare, and a Monsters Inc. prequel which wasn’t bad, but was also quickly forgotten. Pixar also have a plethora of sequels in the works, including Finding Dory, Cars 3, and Toy Story 4. All pointed to signs that the classic Pixar which took ambitious risks with new ideas and well-rounded films would be giving way to a more safe and conventional animation studio. There was however a ray of hope; Inside Out, an original IP with an enticing high concept which promised to explore emotions and the human mind. Early reviews indicated this was indeed a grand comeback for the studio. I had some reservations based on the trailer, but I still went into the film with the utmost optimism.

Inside Out follows Riley (Kaitlyn Dias), a young girl who lives with her loving family in Minnesota. Like most kids, Riley is governed in large part by her emotions, which in this film are personified as characters which live inside of her head, operating a control room influencing her actions. These emotions are Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), and Disgust (Mindy Kaling). For most of Riley’s life, Joy has been the dominant emotion, but this is challenged when Riley’s family are forced to move to San Francisco. Struggling with the move and leaving her old friends, Sadness begins to take a more prominent role in Riley’s life. Joy attempts to resist this, and such a struggle threatens to throw all of Riley’s emotions into chaos.

Many of Pixar’s films deal with exploring worlds, such as the world of sentient toys or Monsters who make a living scaring children. In this film, we explore the world of a personified human mind, and such an exploration is rewarding. Purely on a visual level, there are a lot of creative things going on, particularly in the third act. The animation here is also gorgeous, with the colourful inner workings of Riley’s mind being extremely well-rendered and fun. On a deeper level, I think the film does a really admirable job depicting how someone’s mind works on a figurative level. The way the various emotions interact with Riley’s console for example, is simple, but a neat way of portraying how our emotions influence our actions. There’s also the idea of “core memories”, those moments in life that played a large role in shaping identity. This further manifests itself through the “islands of personality”, literal islands inside Riley which each represent a core aspect of her personality. “Hockey Island” denotes her love for the sport, “Family Island” her strong bond with her parents, and “Goofball Island” her silly humour, just to name a few. There are other unique aspects to this world, but I don’t want to give too many things away. The bottom line is the world here is great and much of the film’s success is owed to it.

Another major advantage the film has is its cast. The core emotions are all played by veteran comedic actors, and while none of them are particular favourites of mine, all are perfectly cast in their roles here. Lewis Black in particular has some really strong comedic moments as Anger. However the real focus here is on Amy Poehler as Joy and Phyllis Smith as Sadness, who both work very well here. Poehler’s manic energy and uncontainable enthusiasm comes through strong, while Phyllis Smith’s melancholic and regretful turn is great for both comedy and pathos. There’s a real richness to their voice work here and you can tell a real effort was made. Kaitlyn Dias may not have many credits to her name, but I did find her portrayal of Riley very likable and dramatic when need be. Inside Out also boasts a very strong sense of humour. Most of the jokes do land and I found myself laughing out loud a lot. The writing is sharp and film’s comedic timing is excellent, to the point that even the lesser jokes mostly pass by. On the whole, the film has a boundless energy which helps propel it through, particularly in its third act when there is a sort of race against the clock with Joy and Sadness which is quite exciting. The animation here is also stunning. The work on the humans especially seems a breakthrough. Rather than strive for photorealism, Pixar has embraced the cartoonishness of animated humans and has instead focused on making their characters as expressive and nuanced as possible. On a purely visual level, these are the most real people I’ve seen in a CGI film.

I’ve spoken a lot about what I like about the film, but I haven’t really touched on the story. In truth, I don’t what to say too much, in large part because I think the actual plot is quite simple, and is better experienced than explained. What I will say is that the film does a very good job in dealing with Riley’s emotional development. In a lot family films about upset children, the child often comes off as annoying and entitled. Here, we get a greater sense of why Riley feels the way she does and how her situation gradually worsens. It all comes down to the struggle between Joy and Sadness, and the resolution the film provides is a great one. It’s predictable and simple, but it’s also a powerful and true message for both parents and children. It also culminates in a genuinely very touching scene. Much as I dig Riley’s arc, I do think it has some problems. Part of it is rushing. Despite all Riley goes through, the bulk of the narrative is only a few days, and I think the story would have benefited from seeing Riley’s development over a longer time span. The film also runs into big problems in the second act, where the story begins to meander and the visuals seem a lot more like cutesy stuff for the kids. This is perhaps best personified by the character Bing Bong (Richard Kind), an imaginary friend created from various animals and cotton candy. The character annoyed me as soon as he showed up and unfortunately he becomes a key player for much of the film. Granted, the film does some interesting things with his character and there is still some strong material here, but it also feels sloppy.

There are a lot of things I really like in Inside Out. At its core, the film has a very strong story, some strong performances, great animation and music, and a wonderfully realized world. It’s also a funny film, and an exciting one too. But I really do think that second act is an anchor that weighs the whole down. Much of that section feels like a missed opportunity, to the point that I can’t shake the feeling that the film didn’t quite live up to the potential it set up in the beginning. Having said that, this is almost certainly Pixar’s best film since Toy Story 3 and their most creative since WALL-E. It maybe isn’t on the level of those great films, but Inside Out is still really, really good.

B+

I really need to see the last 15 minutes of this movie.

That's because Joy and Sadness weren't missing from the control room.

How do you know? You weren't there, man.

It took me two attempts to see Inside Out. When it was in theaters, I decided it would be fun to take my 4 year old niece. Now, it was fun however, not a lot of movie watching was actually done. Most of it was taking breaks in the lobby, getting more popcorn, and eventually leaving early because she was getting too restless. Somehow the metaphorical undertones of maturing emotions went over her head. Oh well.

So I finally managed to watch the whole film this week with its release to Blu-ray. And now I know what I was only able to glimpse previously: its brilliant. It starts off really cutesy and high energy, but as it continues it really settles down into one of those classic Pixar think pieces that is both entertaining and actually has a strong element of theme. In this case its taking a pretty close and honest look at what it means to grow up.

The creativity behind how this girl's head is designed is a lot of fun. The idea of long term memory being endless shelves, how memories themselves are translucent balls that fade as they're forgotten, how dreams are created with a Hollywood-like studio, its all really cool.

And within this framework, Pixar puts together a great story about how two emotions, Joy and Sadness, have to figure out how to get the girl Riley through a major period of change for her. And as this story is told, we get a lot of insights into how the growing human mind works, how childish things like imaginary friends are put away, how emotions sometimes need to blend,, and why sometimes being happy isn't everything. Pretty deep stuff when you dig into it.

But what is really great is that Pixar never spells all that out for you, its all visual and action-based. For example, at one point we see inside the parents heads. Anger is running the Dad's brain, while Sadness is running the moms. Those are quick glances, but when you think about it it says a lot.

Inside out is a great movie, thats what this comes down to. Pixar has done it again.
9/10

This movie was even better for me the second time. Four stars.