Film: Inside Out 2

 

GENRE: Animation
RATING: PG for some thematic elements
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 36 minutes
PLATFORM: Movie Theatre
STARRING: Amy Poehler (Parks & Recreation, SNL, The House, Sisters)
Maya Hawke (Stranger Things); Kensington Tallman (Drama Club)
DIRECTOR: Kelsey Mann (newcomer)
WRITERS: Meg LeFauve (Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur, Captain Marvel);
Dave Holstein (Weeds, Kidding); Kelsey Mann (The Good Dinosaur)
PLOT: Riley is now a teenager and dealing with friends and hockey.  

FULL DISCLOSURE: Loved the first Inside Out for its sheer cleverness.

STORY STUFF: While not as good as the first one, this sequel is pretty clever and full of great stuff. Riley is now thirteen which means a few new emotions join the gang like Anxiety, Envy and Embarrassment (although I was plenty embarrassed before I was thirteen). There are a number of fun interactions when each emotion gets a chance at the helm. This film seemed to have more Riley storylines this time around. I will admit that I got a little welled up near the end of the film but Pixar is so good at the manipulation. I’m not sure if really young kids will get all the references but it sure is fun for adults who can reflect on those times. Without wanting to spoil anything, I’ll just say that my highlight was the sarcasm.

ACTING STUFF: Poehler is always great as Joy. I love that Lewis Black and Phyllis Smith (The Office) returned as Anger and Sadness. I was sad to not hear Bill Hader and Mindy Kaling doing Fear and Disgust – they were so great. Tony Hale (Veep) is okay as Fear but Liza Lapira’s Disgust doesn’t have the same edge Kaling brings. I enjoyed Hawke’s Anxiety voice. It was nice having Ayo Edebiri (The Bear) join as Envy but I didn’t feel the part was that great as I didn’t see Envy doing all that much in this story.     

ARTISTIC STUFF: I’ll credit the creativity and cleverness again. The different parts of Riley’s brain are so well thought out. The characters are wonderfully animated; Ennui’s head design is perfection and the texture of the emotions’ skin and hair is so artistically done. All the animation is incredible. I didn’t find the short post-credit sequence worth it though.

VERDICT: Four and half stars out of five
SEE IT IF: You like Pixar and have seen the first one.
UPCOMING REVIEW:  Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F