Inside Out 2: A Return to Form, But Does it Capture the Magic of the First? Two Generations Review from Father & Daughter – Spoiler Free (Actually one minor, very minor scene spoiler). Pixar and Disney’s animated movies have taken a beating in the press and online communities over the past few years. It has shown up in less-than-stellar performances at the box office. That does not mean the movies released were not good, because in our opinion some of them were great.
Pixar’s Onward, Soul, and Luca languished at the box office because of a global pandemic. Turning Red suffered from online outrage because of storytelling that parents thought should be off-limits. The same goes for Lightyear, a 1-second on-screen kiss between 2 women, that drew the anger of almost the same people. The backlash just grew, with parents and politics playing an unfortunate role in all the decisions of peoples hard earned money being spent at the box office. Pixar’s Elemental did better at the global box office, but it was not the smash hit people were hoping for. Tough 5 years or so for a franchise like Pixar, which had previously seen almost every film being box office gold.
Notice I did not mention the storytelling of any of those films? Every single one was decent and well thought out. But for some reason did not connect to the emotional side enough to turn them into instant classics like previous feature films Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Coco, Brave, Up, Wall-E, The Incredibles, or the original Inside Out.
This brings us to June 14th, 2024, and the release of Disney Pixar ‘Inside Out 2‘. Actually, it takes us to June 11th, 2024, when we got a chance to see the movie ourselves. I wanted to take a moment to give the reader (you) a chance to understand who is writing this. First, as a father of 5 kids, now about to hit 50 (not yet), with my youngest being 17, Rory.
Her mother and I have raised kids, almost successfully, and have dealt with every trope of growing up 5 times, and individually 6 times, cause we had to go through them ourselves when we were growing up. Rory went with us to see Inside Out 2 at the AMC24 in Disney Springs, and I figured her voice needed to be heard during this review.
Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” returns to the mind of newly minted teenager Riley just as 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. Directed by Kelsey Mann and produced by Mark Nielsen with a score by Andrea Datzman, “Inside Out 2” releases only in theaters June 14, 2024.
Our Review of Inside Out 2: There are NO spoilers, minus one small scene that lasts 2 seconds.
I do not want to give anything away or do scene-by-scene talking points. What I do want to say is Inside Out 2 hits hard. Not just emotionally, but in how emotions can be dealt with. Inside Out 2 reflects what many people go through daily when dealing with mental health or cognitive disabilities, or by just being alive!
Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein who wrote the screenplay, with the story conceived by Director Kelsey Mann and LeFauve, obviously spent time talking with mental health professionals, along with talking to teenagers, and learning how to incorporate their ideas into this film to make every emotion feel genuine.
What Inside Out 2 gets right is how all emotions when working together make for a better person, it is the combined emotions that set a person’s beliefs for life, and we see how these emotions and beliefs can be changed and adapted over the course of a person’s life. In this case, a young girl named Riley who is now 13.
Her childhood is over, even if her set belief structure and emotions want her to stay a child forever. Joy, our blue-haired, overzealous leader of emotions does all she can to keep Riley happy. Even when she knows that sometimes, Anger, Fear, Disgust, and especially Sadness must take over. That structure comes crashing down around Joy when new emotions, of a growing up Riley, show up when puberty hits. (Parents don’t worry, they do not go into anything that adults need to discuss with their kids first).
This leads us on an adventure across Riley’s mind where we are introduced to new characters. It is during this adventure that even the original emotions grow up a little. We see the most growth for Joy, which reflects the original Inside Out story that Joy must accept she is not the only emotion, and for her and Riley to grow as a human, they must evolve and become better.
Riley is going through the normal teenage angst phase, being the best in class, being the best hockey player, and being the star in and out of school. Dealing with old friends, while trying to fit in with the new friends. That weird phase between middle school and high school. That time frame is scary, where you are leaving everything you have known and being thrown into the proverbial deep end of the ocean. No longer are you in a cloistered space, but now that space is exponentially larger.
Being a teenager is hard at that time of life! Where do you fit, who are you, and how do you stay who you are while becoming a better person? This is all reflected in the Emotions. Anxiety, which all of us know well, takes over, as it does in all of us at some point. Embrassement shows his big head, and everything we do, or our parents do, all can lead to this Emotion taking over. The other new emotions of Envy, Ennui, and probably the funniest new emotion, Nostalgia, all play a huge part in Riley’s development.
It is the battle between Joy and Anxiety that makes this movie an instant classic. We all know that battle well, sometimes we just want to be joyful and happy, but anxiety about EVERYTHING can take over our brains and make us do strange things, or even normal things, just not how we had anticipated them to be done.
Joy has her own reckoning in a very powerful scene that spoke to me in ways I did not expect, to the point as a grown man who has suffered from brain damage and the cognitive health problems that have come along for the ride. I, like many people, wish nothing but to be joyous, and to show all those around us how happy we truly are, but under that Joy is a ball of anxiety and pain. It is how we deal with those emotions that are reflected in Inside Out 2.
Scene Spoiler After the Image:
I want to say one final major point before I turn this over to Rory. There is a scene in the movie where Riley is having a panic attack, probably her first one ever, and without giving anything away on the whys, there are maybe a few seconds of this that spoke volumes about the lengths the writers and directors went to understand how people go through these situations. If you have ever had a panic attack, or have gone to therapy, or maybe you have read online about calming mechanisms, or coping. There is a 5 step process that has been used for years.
- Acceptance. The first step is acceptance.
- Slow Down Your Breathing. Many people prefer the 2-4-7 method which helps slow down breathing and get back to a more normal state.
- Get Back in Reality.
- Touch Physical Surroundings.
- Review the Situation.
In the scene, for a brief second, you can see Riley stop, and just put her hand on the bench she is sitting on. The world slowly comes back, and reality kicks in, and this hand on the bench spoke volumes to me personally. The minor scene that could have passed by in the blink of an eye has been used by me almost daily for the past 7 years. It is that connection with something solid, that connection in knowing you will be okay for the moment.
That is what Inside Out 2 means to me and I think gets across to the audience. It is a connection to each other, and Pixar has done an amazing job of connecting the human experience into an hour-and-a-half movie. We all know these Emotions, we all know the story being told. We have all gone through this, and seeing it reflected on the big screen is what Disney, when they are on their game, does best.
Inside Out 2 is a well-thought-out piece of art and storytelling and I, for one, am Joyful to see myself, my family, my friends, and my fellow human beings represented in a film that can make me laugh, and cry, and be reflective all at the same time.
I can only say this is a summer blockbuster, without the souped-up over-the-top action thriller summer is known for. Kids of all ages will enjoy Inside Out 2, and parents can enjoy watching their teenagers roll their eyes at certain scenes. But, if those parents are anything like we are, and their kids are anything like my kids are, when this movie is over I can almost guarantee an extra hug and a thank you from the younger ones who watched along with you.
Rory would like to add, as a teenager, she went into Inside Out 2 without any high hopes. She was blown away by how it hit her. She did not realize how true to life it would turn out to be. Having just gone through some of the exact same coming-of-age stuff teens have to go through, she felt closer to the story than she expected.
If we did a rating system, it would have to be 5 Blue- haired Joys, out of 5!
