'Inside Out' Review- The Mind Of A Child
This movie was released in 2015
Inside Out is a CGI animated coming-of-age film directed by Pete Docter who co-wrote the screenplay with Meg LeFauve and Josh Cooley.
Riley Anderson (Kaitlyn Dias) is a Minnesota kid who was born with her were her emotions: Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), and of course, Sadness (Phyllis Smith). They all live in her mind’s Headquarters and help her with life. Riley’s life is pretty good until she has to move to San Francisco, California.
After Sadness creates a core memory at Riley’s new school, Joy tries to remove it, but this leads Joy and Sadness to fall deeper into Riley’s mind, leaving Anger, Disgust, and Fear in charge of Riley’s emotional stability. This causes Riley to break down as pieces of her personality fall apart without her core memories. Riley is soon having dark thoughts and it could lead to an emotional breakdown.
I was hesitant about Inside Out. It was billed by Disney and Pixar as made by the creative minds being Up! I want to be clear, I thought Up! was a disaster of a movie and wish to no end that I could get my minutes back. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the amazing voice cast and director Pete Docter.
Joy and Sadness gather up Riley’s core memories and try to get back to Headquarters all the while meeting other parts of her mind. It was an emotional journey that gave us a glimpse into the mind of a child, reminding us what makes our emotions. When you are growing up, emotions feel confusing and I applaud the filmmakers’ research in making this feature. They truly captured the confusion, happiness, excitement, and courage that comes with being a kid.
As a kid’s film, it was good. It shows kids that is okay to be sad. On the other hand, it is more adult information as far as the psychology of the movie. That being said, I enjoyed every aspect of the film except for one glaring plot hole. I will let you spot it yourself. It is pretty obvious, but once you get past it, you will enjoy it.
Probably the most emotional scene is when Sadness and Joy run into Bing Bong, an imaginary friend voiced by Richard Kind. Every child has felt alone so these imaginary friends helped us cope. These moments were truly honest and reminded me of my childhood.
I want to praise the film’s cast. They were all amazing! Everyone did an impressive job with their roles. Poehler and Smith were the standout performances as Joy and Sadness. They had such good chemistry and worked very well together with their characters. It was their talent that truly brought out the story and without them, this film would have been very different.
Bottom line, Inside Out is a great addition to Pixar’s film list and I cannot wait to see what else is coming from them.
FAVORITE QUOTE: You’ve ruined pizza!
PARENTAL CONCERNS: Mild thematic elements, adult situations
Check out the trailer below:
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below. Tell me if there is a comic book, movie, or anime you would like me to review.