Inside Out

A powerfully moving story, Inside Out takes place inside the mind of a young girl, Riley, as she tackles relatively normal hassles, from growing up to moving away. Inside her mind comes five emotions, all with different perceptions of life. There's Joy, who takes charge and her job is to keep Riley content, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust, and together, they work together (or try) to keep Riley from harming herself. They live together in the headquarters, or Riley's head, and they look after Riley's memories. After eleven years of enjoyment and content, Riley and her parents are forced to move out of Minnesota, away from her friends and hockey team, and moves to the city of San Francisco inside a desolate and cold house. But things get even more anarchic when Joy and Sadness are sundered away from the rest of the gang, holding onto Riley's core memories that make Riley, well, Riley. One by one, the islands of personality fall apart as the rest of the gang back in headquarters watch in dismay and anguish. After all, Joy is not there to keep things under control. Inside Out truly contemplates the hardships of growing up, but every problem comes to a heart-wrenching solution. The movie truly captivates this and continues the Pixar tradition of inspiration, family, and friendship in a little bit under two hours. Watch this, you must.

I think this is one of the best animated feature films I have ever seen, perhaps even the best one. It is very imaginative, for a start, colorful in ways that capture the eye, and its message is as deep as you want it to be. By that I mean it would be productive and fun to watch this with children of all ages. The older or more mature the child is, the deeper you can delve into the issues of what to do about feelings of anger, sadness, and so on. With young children, you could even watch it first time through as it is, and save comments or life lessons for additional viewings. There is plenty of action and humor to be found here to entertain hem on that level. And as a side note, we have no small children to watch this with, but it is also a good movie for adults to settle into, especially during times of stress or worry. We read a recommendation for it during the COVID19 crisis.

Sweet story. <em>'Inside Out'</em> produces an entertaining, heartfelt 95 minutes. I like how the characters work and how their world is set up, conceptually it works very nicely but visually I don't love it - something about the way it looks is kinda plain to me. While Joy & Co. are memorable, the voices behind them aren't all that standout in my opinion. Phyllis Smith is my pick of the cast, she is the perfect person to play the character Sadness. Amy Poehler (Joy) and Lewis Black (Anger) are more than satisfactory, too. It has a good message and meaning, for me it's just missing something extra. Still enjoyed it though.