Review 361: Inside Out

Inside Out is a wonderful, emotionally powerful, hysterical, thoughtful and heartwarming animated film - and Pixar's best offering in years.

Riley Andersen (Kaitlyn Dias) is a happy, hockey-loving 11-year-old girl living in Minnesota, but her world turns upside-down when she and her parents (Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan) move to San Francisco when her dad gets a new job. Riley's emotions -- led by Joy (Amy Poehler) -- try to guide her through this difficult, life-changing event. However, the stress of the move brings Sadness (Phyllis Smith) to the forefront. When Joy and Sadness are inadvertently swept into the far reaches of Riley's mind, the only emotions left in Headquarters are Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling).

The plot is a work of genius, it's so creative, so thoughtful, so imaginative, so touching, so poignant, so daring to talk about its subject matter that it's moving to watch.
It has such wide appeal because parents can watch and think "awe, we used to go through what Riley's going through" and kids and teens in particular can relate to Riley's journey because that's what they're more than likely going through right now.

This film has the gumption to talk about emotions and show them visually is just remarkable.
What's truly amazing about this film is that it shows how important emotions are. If we didn't have them we would be reduced to lifeless zombies, they're what make us who we are, they make life worth living they connect us to other people. Inside Out shows that it’s good to have all these different emotions and that it’s completely natural to have them. But if we keep them in balance and moderation, they’re especially helpful.
In that way, Inside Out is almost therapeutic in the way that it tackles such mature themes.   

Balance: Joy and Sadness don't get along which is understandable as they are polar opposites of one another. Yet they're like a yin yang, neither one can live without the other. 

So many of us try to run away from sadness, we thinks it's not healthy, we're afraid of it, we think it undermines us but the beauty of Inside Out is that it shows us that is most certainly not the case.
In fact, this films shows us that all emotions are healthy you just need to strike the right balance and keep them in check. It shows that it's ok to feel however you feel and that there's no shame at all in feeling sad, angry, scared whatever the case maybe. If anything, by confronting these emotions, you create new ones and new moments and the great thing is all of this is based on the characters choices so the whole affair feels genuine.

Director Pete Docter's Animation direction is sensitive and fast paced, the animation is gorgeously beautiful, the character design is inventive and imaginative (they gave shape to what essentially are intangible concepts. Riley's emotions are purposely based on familiar shapes and not just any shapes, shapes we would naturally associate with these particular emotions: Joy is a star, Sadness like a tear, Anger like a brick, Fear like a raw nerve and Disgust is shaped fittingly like broccoli. 
The score by Michael Giacchino is beautifully moving, the production design is marvellous (all the different locations and settings Joy and Sadness visit inside Riley's head are visually stunning and creative), the are some truly inspired moments of tension, the comedy is both hilarious and touching.

When it comes to vocal performances, Pete Docter and his creative team have assembled together a wonderful team of actors who bring so much life and depth to this cast of colourful characters

I have to give praise to Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Bill Hader & Mindy Kaling for their performances as Riley's emotions. Because they're the personification of humans emotions, this gives them such individual personalities which gives them plenty of room to show off their talents and comedians and lend their own "voice" and perspectives on how to take care of Riley which is the one thing they have in common: They all want to care of Riley and have her best interests at heart. They're developing her as she goes through these tough changes in her life.
When Riley and her family move to San Fran however, they have an internal dispute on how they should handle the situation and what's best for Riley. Needless to say, their individual personalities clash

 

Joy is very much the original emotion that inhabits Riley's body, so she's knows Riley the best out of all of them. 

Lewis Black is utterly hilarious as Anger, he represents that feeling in the back of your head when things don't go according to plan and you just want to let loose and shout at the world.
He's all about getting the job done and is unapologetically honest whatever the situation. But at the end of the day he means well as he cares about Riley just as much as the other emotions; his outbursts are triggered when he feels Riley has been treated unfairly in some way.

Bill Hader is also very screamishly funny as Fear, he shows that fear is not just about screaming so hard and passing out from terror, it's about keeping you safe - another great thing that Pixar is daring to show. Without fear, we wouldn't avoid things like scary caves or grizzly animals and stuff like that.  Whats more we all like being afraid sometimes like when we watch a scary movie. 

Mindy Kaling is a hoot as Disgust. She's very opinionated, honest to a fault, sarcastic

I also have to give praise to Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan for their convincing, earnest, sincere and heartfelt vocal performances as Riely's parents. They are so genuine that their paternal nature seeps off of the screen.

Another excellent member of the cast is Richard Kind as Bing Bong.

Kaitlyn Dias however is the true find of this film as Riley, beautifully, earnestly and convincingly conveying all of Riley's inner turmoil about adolescence, her reactions to moving to a new city and having to adapt to new surroundings. 

Inside Out is one Major Emotion Picture - as the Tagline said, 5/5.

The Anonymous Critic.