It’s been a rough few years for Pixar, who are no longer the hitmakers they used to be. The Pandemic was rough for them, as interesting work like Soul and Turning Red faded away on streaming services, while two years ago they suffered the box office disaster that was Lightyear. They got back on track with 2023 hit Elemental, but can a recent favourite return to keep that momentum going?
A sequel to the 2015 film, Inside Out 2 rejoins the world inside Riley (voiced by Kensington Tallman), a girl whose life is guided by emotions Joy (Amy Poehler), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Joe Hale), Disgust (Liza Lapira), and Sadness (Phyllis Smith). On the eve of Riley going to a hockey summer camp, she enters puberty, with a whole new host of complicated emotions led by the overzealous Anxiety (Maya Hawke). With their new colleagues at risk of taking over, Joy goes to great lengths to preserve Riley’s sense of self.
Pixar has had mixed fortunes with follow ups to classics. Toy Story 2 and 3 are some of the best animated films ever made, but Finding Dory, Monsters University, and the Cars sequels all felt like stories with no purpose. This is where Inside Out 2 breaks the mould. It’s a natural progression to see Riley as a teenager, and for messier emotions to jam up the system. It’s a story worth telling, and director Kelsey Mann tells it beautifully. In the outside world, Riley is embroiled in a tale of friendship and hero worship that is a refreshing take on the coming-of-age.
It doesn’t rely on teenage tropes of a new school or a classroom crush, but still feels relatable. Inside, there’s a fight for power between Joy and Anxiety, with a question as to whether either should dominate. It’s also incredibly funny, perhaps even more so than the original, looking at the oddities of the human brain in quirky ways. One character, Bloofy (Ron Funches), is a suppressed memory of a childhood cartoon that delivers some of the biggest laughs, while Smith’s performance as sadness is comedy gold as she is sent on daring missions with minimal confidence.
These lighter moments make the serious points all the more powerful when they arrive. As for the new emotions, they are all realised in interesting ways. French star Adèle Exarchopoulos brings the chuckles as the nonplussed emotion Ennui, while the mostly silent newbie embarrassment will ring true for everyone who has wished the ground would swallow them up. It’s anxiety, however, that is the most nuanced of the character, old and new.
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Hawke’s frantic delivery and the manic visualisation give a representation of anxiety that, in the best Pixar tradition, makes a complicated subject accessible. Anxiety is a villain of sorts for the most part, but in the gut- wrenching third act everything comes together in an unexpectedly moving way. Inside Out 2 reminds you of how great Pixar movies can be, and how satisfying a well-executed sequel can feel. The message of exploring deep emotions is more important than ever, but this is paired with a great movie that will have you splitting your sides before shedding a tear. If the studio must sequelise every one of their hit movies, this should be the template.
Inside Out 2 is in cinemas from 14 th July
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