Grade: B
9 years ago, Inside Out burrowed into millions of hearts – certainly mine. I was so struck by how spot-on, observant, and insightful it was about the human condition. It portrayed everyone’s heads having at least a handful of personified emotions, living there and running the show. Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust all took turns at the helm, based on whatever they thought was in the best interest of their “person.” Inside Out 2 does an equally great job with this. Debating between two grades, I am going with the lower one. So, consider this a very strong lower one as opposed to a hesitant, padded higher grade.
The 2015 film ended with a teaser for a potential sequel: a “puberty” alarm that is bound to start blinking at some point. In the first movie, Riley was a young only child dealing with her life being uprooted with a big move. In this new one, she’s 13, and that “puberty” alarm goes off. Pixar’s wonderful Turning Red was a very specific metaphor for the physical transformation into womanhood, particularly when it comes to periods and menstruation. Inside Out 2 doesn’t go there, and is more about the emotional trials and tribulations during those early teen years. Everyone can relate to what’s touched on here.
Riley is still killing it as a hockey player, and is sent to a summer camp where she can be seen by some important hockey scouts, who can make or break her career on the ice in high school. Her two best friends break the news to her that they will be going to a different school than Riley. Meanwhile, Riley is star-struck by the presence of a well-known teenage hockey prodigy at the camp, and tries to be cool and get in her good graces and clique.
Just like the previous installment, there are really two movies going on here. There’s Riley’s story out in the real world, and the journey/adventures of the emotions in her head as they try to keep it together. Puberty brings on a few new uninvited emotions: Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, Nostalgia, and Ennui. The latter is an eternally blase, French, hip, pretentious emotion, who dominates, along with Anxiety. They capture Joy, Disgust, Sadness, Anger, and Fear, bottle them up, and ship them away from headquarters. Sound familiar? How true to life that can be.
When they get locked up in the “darkest secrets” safe, we meet a few quite funny characters. Two are obviously inspired by Blue’s Clues, and one is a big-talking but ultimately useless graphic video game character. Anxiety (a show-stealing Maya Hawke) agonizes over every possible negative outcome of any potential decision, and tries to get ahead of all of them in choosing the best route. That can be beneficial to an extent, unless Anxiety lets itself get carried away at the control board. There are puns galore that will make you groan. Anxiety drinks something called ANXI Tea. There’s a “sar chasm” where everything you say sounds insincere when it echoes out to the other side. When it starts thundering, lightning, and raining hundreds of idea light bulbs, that’s a brain storm.
I felt the absence of Bill Hader and Mindy Kaling, who voiced Fear and Disgust in the first film. They did not return for this one due to a salary dispute. I’m disappointed that they couldn’t come to an agreement about money, but the other voice talent, old and new, is strong. Amy Poehler is still busy and energetic as Joy. My friend June Squibb has a small but entertaining role as Nostalgia. You could say Lewis Black has been the voice of Anger long before the 2015 movie. He’s perfect for it.
The resolution after the climax happens a bit too easily. Riley is put into the penalty box for bad sportsmanship, some things happen in her head, then magically, everything’s all good when she returns to the court. It’s as if all those people took a break and saw the same scene we did. I can’t imagine the hard feelings would have been cleared up so quickly. All in all, Inside Out 2 gives us much to love. Children will appreciate the beautiful animation and worlds inside Riley’s head, and adults will get the heavier themes. It’s amazing the lengths to which we go to manage our emotions. As we see, they have a crazy enough time doing that on their own.
Grade: B
Film Reviews by Mark 
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