Inside Out 2: It Feels like Pixar of Old

 


As the title of this review suggests, Inside Out 2 checks a lot of the boxes necessary for a good Pixar film. It's funny, lively, has characters you care about, has a well-animated world, hits the emotional beats. The last point especially is quite present in Inside Out 2. I'll be intentionally vague and encourage you to check out the movie for yourself. 

The kids who grew up with the first Inside Out can now relate to the emotions that Riley (Kensington Tallman) is dealing with. Speaking of emotions, both the returning emotions and new ones work really well in Inside Out 2. Ennui (Adele Exarchopoulos) as one of the newcomers with Sadness (Phyllis Smith) and Anger (Lewis Black) as returning emotions are all standouts in my opinion. There's a case to be made that Joy (Amy Poehler) is one of Pixar's best characters. We empathize with Joy, understand her motivations, and want to see her succeed. Hence her name and the emotion she is Joy is obviously incredibly likable as well. If Pixar continues to make Inside Out movies (an almost certainty based on the overwhelming success at the box office for Inside Out 2) I look forward to seeing how Joy continues to grow as a character (in addition to the other emotions).

Inside Out 2 is a movie that the whole family will enjoy. The Inside Out franchise for today's kids could be what the Toy Story franchise, The Incredibles, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, Cars, etc. were for my generation. To be clear, I'm not ready to put Inside Out 2 on the level of the films I just mentioned. However, Inside Out 2 reminded me a lot of what was so great about the Pixar movies I grew up with. Some jokes in Inside Out 2 don't quite land or are a little forced and the pacing might be off at times. If the showing I was in which was almost entirely adults can be fully invested in the story then that definitely says something about Inside Out 2.


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