Review: Inside Out 2
Make Room For New Emotions
INTRODUCTION
This is a quick review of the newly released film Inside Out 2. Keep in mind this is but one of the many movies I watch every year, and that whatever initial grade I come up for this film could change for better or worse with time. To better keep up to date with both my thoughts on other movies and if my feelings on this film changed, follow me on Letterboxd.
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THE PLOT
Via Letterboxd: Teenager Riley’s mind headquarters is undergoing a sudden demolition to make room for something entirely unexpected - new emotions! Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust, who’ve long been running a successful operation by all accounts, aren’t sure how to feel when Anxiety shows up. And it looks like she’s not alone.
QUICK REVIEW
I timidly walk down a hallway, approaching a door that I was referred to. With trepidation I give it a few knocks, then let myself in to be greeted by a support group that is situated in a circle of seats. I’m directed by the therapist to one of the few empty seats left. I’m assured its a safe space to confess. I’m not sure how much I believe them, but after getting a second assurance from them I finally confess, “My name is Luis A. Mendez, and I consider Inside Out to be one of the worst Pixar has had to offer.”
That’s right. Try me, convict me (Hell you do that and I’ll apparently start to lead the election polls for President), and sentence me because i’m guilty on not being in love with the hit 2015 animated film that became one of the most celebrated of its year and made a splash during awards season. Maybe i’m heartless, maybe I don’t get it because as someone told me “You’re just not a girl dad”, but I continue to be baffled by why so many worship at that movie’s feet. It’s not that I think the film is a complete disaster, but I was deeply underwhelmed by it and consider it one of the low-tier members of the Pixar catalog.
I’d much rather see Pixar lean into more original films than their current plan to just rely on sequels. While the Toy Story sequels have all been top-tier in my mind, all other sequels/prequels, but Monsters University, were steep downgrades for me. After loving Soul, Luca, and Elemental (And I really enjoyed Turning Red even though I didn’t fall too hard for it), I was not looking forward to them relying on just returning to a previous property. And lo and behold they returned to one of my least favorite ones from their library.
If you must ask what my issues with the original film are it’s simply that I find it to be much less smarter, much less impactful, and much less emotionally grabbing than so many others seem to. The Riley character feels like a walking mcguffin more than a person, and the emotions didn’t make me invested in any of their lacking character arcs - particularly seeing all but two of them pushed to the background. Not to mention a lot of inconsistent things that bothered the hell out of me, like the emotions for Riley having their own distinct individual characteristics but making every other character’s emotions bland templates.
And now with the addition of new emotions in Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui I only found myself wondering where the hell these emotions came from, and before you mention the puberty explanation the film goes for - why didn’t we see any of them in the adult characters in the previous movie? In fact, we don’t see any of these new emotions in the other characters in THIS movie. And why puberty? Does an eight year old prepubescent not experience anxieties, jealousy, embarrassments, or boredom? Of course they do! Some will say I’m being too nitpicky, but this lazy use of the lore has always bothered me and it unfortunately continues in this sequel.
But I will give this movie props for doing some things better than the previous film. This time around our core emotions stick around together much longer, rather than just save the adventure and main plot for the two characters. It made me buy their chemistry and teamwork much more than I did in the last movie - though there is a lack of real arcs for them as individuals. The new emotions fed off each other enough that I could buy what drove them; though again there is a lack of individuals arcs for half of them. I also liked the pacing and clever use of mental puns in this one much more, and the final reveal on Riley’s “sense of self” actually fixed an issue that was bothering me with the main plot where it came off like they were giving the emotions too much control over who Riley is.
While I was not blown away, I did find myself much less frustrated with Inside Out 2 than I was with the first film. The lore still has real holes in it, and I still have trouble connecting with the Riley character (Though less here than I did in the previous one), but the main plot and adventure in this one was much more enjoyable and well-paced. Overall this is a decent, not great, film to take the kids to, or replay once it comes to Disney+. It makes just enough improvements that, where as the first one was “low tier Pixar” for me, this is more in the middle of the pack. I give it an okay enough straight up grade of B. Not B+, not B-, just a B.
INITIAL GRADING
