Inside Out: Movie Review

I love animated films. It doesn’t matter how old I get, I am still able to enjoy animation as long as it’s good. 97% of the time, when you see the word “Pixar” before the title, you can pretty much count on walking out of the theater in a good mood. Sure, there were a few misses for me, “Cars”, “Brave”, “Monster’s University”, but for the most part, Pixar has delivered some of the best animated features over the past two decades. Their latest, “Inside Out” is another winner from the successful animation studio

“Inside Out” is centered on 11 year-old Riley (voiced by Kaitlyn Dias). She has had a wonderful childhood. She loves her friends, her parents, and she loves playing hockey. Things couldn’t be better for young Riley. That is until her dad (voiced by Kyle MacLachlan) gets a job in San Francisco, which forces the family to leave Minnesota. Riley is forced to leave her school, friends, and hockey team. Riley’s Mom (voiced by Diane Lane) wants her to put on a happy face for Dad, but that task winds up being quite impossible.

You see, inside Riley’s head lives different emotions. There is Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler), Sadness (voices by Phyllis Smith), Fear (voiced by Bill Hader), Anger (voiced by Lewis Black), and Disgust (voiced by Mindy Kaling). When each emotion gets their hands on the control board within Riley’s head, it effects her behavior.

Riley does her best to cope with her new environment but when Joy and Sadness are sucked out of the mind’s control center, that leaves Anger, Fear and Disgust in charge. Because of this, Riley is not able to feel any happy or sad feelings. Because of this, Riley can really only express fear and anger. The story cuts back and forth from Riley’s daily life to Joy and Sadness trying to make their way through Riley’s long-term memories. If the two missing emotions do not get back to the control center they risk being lost forever.

“Inside Out” is quite funny and the voice cast is terrific, but it is surprisingly much deeper than I expected. Pixar’s films generally have a lot more heart than those of rival studios. If you are a fan of 2009’s “Up”, then you will be happy to know that writer/director Pete Docter is behind this one as well, along with Ronaldo Del Carmen. If you are looking for great family entertainment (something this summer is seriously lacking), then look no further than “Inside Out”.

By: Marc Ferman