"What is going on inside their head?"
Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) and her parents (Kyle McLachlan and Diane Lane) just moved from their small town in midwest United States to San Francisco, California. New town. New school. New life. This also causes havoc for Riley's five emotions, Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Fear (Bill Hader). Sadness touches memories, turning them from happy to sad, and due to this scramble, both Joy and Sadness accidentally get separated from control central, and into the depths of Riley's mind. If they don't find a way back soon, Riley could plunge into emotional turmoil.
This is Pixar's most creative idea they've done to date. And for good reason. The animation is both realistic and colorful. The outside of the brain is nicely-realized with appropriate looks at San Francisco and other outdoor moments. Inside the brain, it is full of vivacity and wonder. The emotions may look more like comic book characters than anything else, but they each carry an interesting vibe in the way they sometimes act (i.e. Joy glows, Anger lights his head on fire). One other moment during the film goes through several animation styles that are interesting to watch.
The script does an ingenious job describing the emotions and the role they play in life. Its kind-of difficult to say that the script doesn't develop the emotions much like regular characters. But at the same time, we should remember that they all resemble one character, Riley. And Riley is given sufficient development thanks to several childhood flashbacks. And through this and the film's primary situation, we understand and relate to what she's going through.
The film carries strong messages on how to deal with life changes, as well as growing up as well as how important all emotions are besides joy. The voice actors are solid, with Poehler, Smith and Black being pitch-perfect for Joy, Sadness and Anger. Kaling is given the least to do, but she still does good with what she's given (the story primarily revolves around Joy and Sadness). Dias is very believable as Riley, and McLachlan and Lane, likewise. Richard Kind gives a memorable performance to the imaginary friend, Bing-Bong.
Michael Giacchino (who's had a busy summer) gives the film a strong, whimsical score. As usual for (at least most of) Pixar movies, there is one or two moments that make you almost cry. In fact, the film's focus on the positive and negative impacts of change may make the film somewhat upsetting for sensitive viewers.
On the downside, I wish we could have spent a little more time in other people's minds, such as Riley's parents, which in one of the film's most hilarious and memorable scenes (also seen in the trailer). Also, I felt the film, at times, tried a little too hard to be funny. There are a few hilarious moments, but some moments fell flat.
Upon watching Inside Out, the story of the main character, Riley, reminded me of a preteen at my church. The church had been through many changes in the past several months. As a result of those drastic changes, I noticed a major change in her behavior. But I couldn't quite put my finger on why she was acting differently. In an odd way, watching this helped me realize what was going on with her.
At that time of life for a lot of kids (11-12 years old), the body prepares for puberty, and as a result, former childhood interests start to take a backseat. A desire to do "older" things start to arise. The feeling of happiness that typically accompanies childhood starts to fade as a perception of what the world truly is starts to set in.
But back to the movie. Inside Out is Pixar's most creative effort. Its fun, its charming, and its well-written and well-animated. And it provides a solid amount of depth, even more so than a lot of other recent animated efforts we've seen from many other studios. Plus, the movie takes a complex, original idea (the inside of the mind and emotions) and nails it with technical and storytelling precision.
However, Inside Out is not my favorite Pixar movie made to date. While it nails almost everything right, I felt like it wasn't quite as engaging or accessible to all ages like Up, Finding Nemo, WALL-E and Brave are. At times, I felt like this movie was too complex for its own good, and that younger kids may not quite understand some of what's going on. At the same time, the movie really strives to be funny, and unfortunately, fails to succeed some of the time.
In that case then, this still is in the upper half as far as Pixar movies are concerned (for me), ranking in the same vicinity as (or maybe slightly higher than) the Toy Story and Monsters Inc. movies. Its definitely worth going to see for full price at your local cinema.
And one thing's for sure, for Pixar, visually and aesthetically, its a creative achievement.
Score: 8.2/10
Content Problems Families Should Be Aware Of:
Language: None really. Anger mentions how he knows a certain "curse word", and later, he gets access to a "curse word dictionary". It is suggested that he actually does say one towards the end, but it's censored by a bleep. "Heck".
Adult Content: None really. The inside of a boy's brain goes crazy after a girl sighting. Riley's mom's emotions mention a previous love interest and have a flashback of a "Brazilian helicopter pilot" (her emotions all sigh as a result).
Violence: Some slapsticky situations. Joy and Sadness ransack a movie set dressed like a dog. The costume tears in half, making it look like a dog torn in half in Riley's standards. A clown in one scene of the movie may scare really little kids. One character sacrifices itself and dissolves out of existence. A train crashes. A few areas of the brain crumble and crash. Some characters fall, get slapped in the head, etc.
Drugs/Alcohol: None
Other: Riley steals her Mom's credit card and runs away from home (but she later turns around). Brief toddler rear nudity.
