Inside Out

Review By: John Delia

Just when you thought you knew what was going on in your child’s brain, up pops Inside Out a funny little film from Disney/PIXAR.  The animation is PIXAR flawless, the direction pin point and the voice acting, well  – pitch perfect.  The family film; however, is not without a downside as I feel it’s a bit too depressing. This little adventure is amusing, but let’s hope the sequel is a little more cheerful, adventurous, filled with fascination and kindhearted next time. Just saying…

Eleven year old Riley finds herself in San Francisco with new digs and starting a new life when her father takes a new position in the big city. It’s the typical story of leaving your friends behind, the years of building blocks that you accomplished in familiar surroundings and altering your dreams of a future based on your elementary years.  Now thrown into a cold world of a stranger trying to make her way among strangers, it would give anyone her age a great deal of angst.

It’s truly emotional for Riley and her emotions take center stage as she starts to experience her new life. There are five emotions featured in Inside Out created by the team at PIXAR. They are Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith) in this head pounding story that has our main character slipping out of control. She’s conflicted and depressed, but Joy will have nothing of it.  She wants Riley to adjust, but Sadness can’t help herself from getting in the way.

The film plays out with the two main emotions at odds in a battle for control to the very predictable ending. Co-Director and writer Pete Docter who wrote the original scripts for Toy Story 1, 2 (and the announced Toy Story 4 ) takes the reins for Inside Out creating an adventure within the confines of Riley’s head. He depicts her world run from a control room in her brain. There the five emotions are regulating her reactions to her situations that include getting brain freeze, joining a new hockey team, dealing with her parent’s questions and making new friends.

Docter uses each of the emotions to show how Riley acts to her new surrounding then turns over center stage to Joy and Sadness. Here is where the adventure really begins as the two emotions try to figure a way to bring Riley back to her carefree self. Sadness can’t help tainting Riley’s memories turning this blue emotion into a blunderer and making her memory of happy times into depressing ones. It’s unavoidable with Sadness who’s always do blue, so Joy has an uphill battle to save Riley from having a miserable life.

The film is all in fun, but also a confirmation of what most people know about their child from their own experiences. Most parents find they are helpless at times, especially with an eleven year old that is on the threshold of adult hood.  When youngsters are thrown into unfamiliar situations they can’t understand at this age then angst sets in.  Dealing with it parents have no choice, but to take on the brutal realization that they’re “just kids” after all.  Is this enough to make a film a hit already knowing it happens every day in our complicated world? I found that the story tends to way heavy as a downer and may bore the very young and the teen set. You be the judge.

The animation deviates from the usual PIXAR brand somewhat with different computer processed drawing techniques.  The emotion characters take on an old school feel with sharper lines unlike those of Toy Story or The Incredibles. Although Riley and her real world are created with the familiar CGI we are accustomed to from PIXAR, the “inside head” gets most of the screen time using the harsher animation technique.

Get to the film on time as prior to the feature Inside Out the audience gets treated to a PIXAR short called Lava. The cartoon centers on a volcano who has a crush on a budding female earth protrusion. Visions of love, self-sacrifice and companionship are depicted in a very unusual way. The fun little story does a good job of getting the audience ready for the main feature.

Inside Out has been rated PG by the MPAA for mild thematic elements and some action. The target audience is families, but inclines to play best between the ages of 7 to 12.

FINAL ANALYSIS: Inside Out is not PIXAR’s best, but certainly entertains. (C+)