In case you haven’t already gone to see Disney-Pixar’s Inside Out yet, here are some reasons why you definitely should.
Inside Out stars an eleven-year-old girl named Riley, but the focus is on the five different emotions that run the show in her mind.
Joy is the bright, yellow, bubbly character who never seems to stop smiling. Sadness is a short, blue bundle of depression perpetually on the verge of collapsing on the floor and crying. Anger is a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. Fear freaks out about every little thing.Disgust, as Joy puts it, “keeps Riley from being poisoned, physically and socially.”
The interactions between these five misfits gives the movie its charm. While Joy generally tries to run the show because she believes Riley needs to be happy, the other emotions clash with her intentions all the time. In particular, Joy and Sadness play off each other fantastically in one of the two main plot arcs.
The other arc is from Riley’s perspective. She is forced to move from her normal life in Minnesota to go to San Francisco, which doesn’t start out as positively as she would like. The plot focuses on her struggles as she tries to adapt, while trying her best to be positive like she always is.
The movie definitely lives up to Disney-Pixar standard, including humor for kids and some great comic relief, as well as a powerful message in the story that applies to everyone.
It focuses on the complexity of human emotions and the validity of everyone, including Sadness and Disgust. Despite the negative connotations of some emotions, each one is validated by the other characters and makes for a great experience.
As always, the animation is superb. Each emotion has a subtle glow of their respective color, which gets more pronounced as the lighting darkens. The motions are extremely fluid, and each character is dynamic. The human characters are well done, though you don’t see them as often as the emotions and aspects of Riley’s personality, which are bright and colorful, like they were pulled from a kid’s mind.
The ending scenes are nothing short of a crying fest. The powerful climax tears you apart within the span of a minute and leaves you stinging for several minutes afterwards.
Inside Out proves Pixar knows how to make a great movie. The cast of characters is infinitely entertaining, the animation is fleshed-out and nice-looking and it has a strong, universal life message for all to take to heart.