If there’s one thing Pixar films have never lacked, it is emotion. The beginning of Up, the end of Toy Story 3.... and I better stop there. You have to curl in a ball for a good cry. The likes of Lasseter and Moris have spend decades cinematically hurling us through the emotional spectrum that at some point you have to wonder if they think about how audiences would receive it. “Just what exactly is going on in their heads when we make their dreams come true?”. So maybe that’s how Inside Out started: by trying to make the inside of someone’s mind as wondrous as their outside worlds can be. It’s an ambitious idea but fortunately there’s a couple of things Pixar has never lacked: imagination & creativity. This emotional story is overflowing with both to make it Pixar’s most ambitious and arguably most rewarding venture to date. A young mind really is a beautiful thing.
Inside the head of the 11 year old Riley live the emotions of Joy (Amy Poehler – Parks and Recreation), Sadness (Phyllis Smith – The Office US), Fear (Bill Hader – Adventureland), Anger (Lewis Black – Accepted) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling – The Mindy Project). We follow them through Riley experiencing a turbulent house move.
The film is essentially the story behind a story, and while its main polar forces of Joy and Sadness have their own journey based adventure, Inside Out is always at its best when inter-cutting between the internal and external perspectives of young Riley. The ways the 5 different emotions conflict with each other are both funny and incredibly well-thought out as they translate into the words and actions of a confused pre-teen. It’s a great visual representation of developing mind being pulled in all different directions, best demonstrated via a few brilliant comparable trips inside her parents head. In both mother and father, we see the same five emotions, just operating under a greater level of co-operation, implying that growing up is literally a matter of learning to control your emotions. The mind mechanics are simple and well-established from memory recall and ideas to how personality traits are gained and lost. This connects into Pixar’s core quality of being highly accessible for all family members to enjoy. It’s a mad and frequently silly thing to drive the young members wild, clever, and detailed enough for adult viewers to notice and enjoy (such as perfect China Town reference) while its adolescent life drama aspects are relatable for those in between (complete with a few well aimed Twilight stabs). The key message is also effectively universal: all emotions have their a purpose, including sadness. This is told by a good simple conflict between the optimist of Joy: that what’s Riley to be happy all the time, and pessimist Sadness that wants her to..... well you get the idea. As the plot shifts from a physical journey to Joy’s personal discovery that sadness has the power to create happiness, it’s a wonderful balance of sorrow and beauty as we effortlessly feel Joy’s personal transition. As some points, it gets darker than a few parents would like but such periods are short-lived and crucially, always with purpose.
The vastly traversed areas of Riley’s mind are setup like some kind of physics bending resort theme park in huge arrays colour and spectacle. Writer and director Pete Docter (Monster’s Inc, Up) clearly took great pleasure over incorporating every wordplay and workplace visualisation he could think of. From the train of thought transport system, déjà vu, old school movie studios style dream productions, abstract (expression) thought, forgetfulness and déjà vu. The story does a great job of savouring in these locations but never lingering. At all times. it feels flowing as the homebound emotions move across lobe and cortex without out getting bogged down in plot complications. There’s some fantastic representation of growing up transitions as we see some more childish areas being demolished or even forgotten. The catalyst for this is Riley’s toddler years imaginary friend, Bing Bong (Richard Kind – Spin City). Although he has his moments of dragging the film too far towards childish, his presence is redeemed as he learns that “his” Riley has outgrown him and must accept his obsoleteness. Like many aspects of the film, it’s an effective way of using something inherently silly to make a very serious point, afew of which could be classed as familiar Pixar tricks but that takes nothing away from their impact. This can also be the film’s only real hindrance. There are times when Inside Out will get too a bit too daft for some adult viewers. Yes, this is a kids/family film but even in that knowledge, there are points when adults will find their escapism interrupted and that good for nothing voice of maturity wondering if their supposed to this (short answer, yes you are, so just tell it that curse word you know).
The main emotion characters are all enjoyable in their own little quirks. The way Anger constantly has a newspaper baring a headline, purely just to slam it shut in annoyance. The moping turtleneck mannerisms of sadness in comparison to the physical frenzy of Joy, coming across Tinkerbell spouting caffeine dust. Disgust becomes a great pop culture inclusion, feeling straight out of Clueless/Mean Girls and Fear’s geeky apparel tying right in with his safety paranoia. In terms of their voice acting, the MVE has to go to Lewis Black for making Anger always feel comedic rather than aggressive. In terms of the humans, Riley is easily the most lovable human character Pixar has delivered since Up’s grumpy Carl Frederickson. You can’t help feel for her tries to be happy about the move for her father’s sake despite being thoroughly miserable, resulting in a heart jack-hammering (the wrench just didn’t cut it) end payoff. Newcomer Kaitlyn Dias keeps her voice work grounded and makes Riley feel the point of realism in this extraordinary presentation. Elsewhere, Diane Lane (Man of Steel) and Kyle MacLachlan (Agents of Shield) are welcome editions as Riley’s parents. Also keep your ears pealed for the likes of Frank Oz, RHCPs Flea and of course the mandatory John Ratzenberger.
Even the lesser Pixar films (ahem, Cars 2) are still good, but when they find magic,these films become very special and unique events. Inside Out is all of that and more. A simple idea taken to magnificent heights from what still remains the most consistent film studio of the 20 years (yes, it’s been that long now!). See this film and make a memory you won’t want to forget.
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