Pixar is pretty well acknowledged as having a deep
understanding of human emotion, with classics such as Toy Story, Wall-E, and Up
tugging at our heartstrings while leaving us incredibly satisfied with
extremely creative and immensely enjoyable films. The last few years have either seen Pixar
completely absent or blatantly subjecting themselves to the Mouse House’s
commercializing demands for more sequels, and things just haven’t quite been
the same… Until now. Inside Out is a fantastic little film
that will restore your faith in the beloved animation studio. Unless you are a child, because this might
not be the film for you, paradoxical as that sounds.
Riley is an eleven-year-old girl, born and raised in
Minnesota, who moves with her family to San Francisco and must deal with the
loss of everything she has ever known and adjust to a new life in a new city. Coming from Pixar, this could be pretty
compelling in and of itself, but this is just as much a story of what’s going
on inside Riley’s mind, as we meet the five emotions who drive her: Joy,
Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger. As
Riley tries to cope with her move, the emotions vie for control over her mind
in the emotional Headquarters. Things
only become worse, though, when an accident leaves Joy and Sadness far outside
of Headquarters’ reach, and the two must traverse the recesses of Riley’s mind
in order to restore themselves in Riley’s emotional spectrum.
Pixar has been great at providing insight into emotion and
humanity in the past, but never before have they taken that task so
literally. And they make it work to
great effect. The parallel narratives of
Joy and Sadness learning to understand one another, Fear, Disgust, and Anger
struggling to keep Riley emotionally healthy, and Riley herself struggling on a
metatextual level are all brilliantly interwoven to create a narrative that
might otherwise have been mundane and infuse life into it by literally
demonstrating how a world of emotion and cognitive processes function as
represented by anthropomorphized abstracts.
We see the depths of the subconscious, the wonders of the imagination,
the bureaucracy of memory management, and the curiosity of abstract thought,
all realized as a creative world that exists within us all. Riley’s story is one of emerging adolescence,
of losing childhood bit by bit in ways that are scary and imperceptible, and
Pixar once again hits the emotional resonance right on the head, finding a way
to make us feel for Riley through making her emotions grow in complexity with
her.
But isn’t this a kid’s movie? Isn’t all this philosophizing and cognitive
analysis a bit much for the film’s intended audience? Well, I would argue that, yeah, this is not a
great movie for kids. Sure, there’s some
obligatory slapstick and the whole experience is bright and colorful, but I don’t
think that pre-adolescent children are going to have the self-awareness nor the
emotional intelligence to grasp the complex concepts central to the
narrative. That isn’t to say this
diminishes the film’s quality at all, but audiences should expect something targeted
at those who can look back on childhood and understand what is happening in
Riley’s mind, rather than a piece of diversionary entertainment for their young
ones.
That said though, assuming you are an adult and have enjoyed
Pixar’s work in the past, Inside Out
is a must-see film, especially considering how lackluster the rest of the
summer is looking to be. It is an extremely
intelligent piece that has returned Pixar to top form.
Think Pixar can keep this good momentum going with this fall’s
The Good Dinosaur? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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