On June 14, Pixar released a long awaited sequel that many Disney fans were waiting for. Nine years after “Inside Out,” “Inside Out 2” was finally released to theaters. Fans worried that “Inside Out 2” was going to be another disappointing movie matching Pixar’s last movie flops such as “Lightyear,” or “Elemental.” Fortunately, “Inside Out 2” was a big hit. It made a total of $858.8 million at the box office, giving fans hope that this is the start of Pixar making better movies.
The first movie follows an 11-year-old girl named Riley, who moves from Minnesota to San Francisco, where she tries to adjust to the new changes in correlation with her five main emotions; Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust. In “Inside Out 2,” Riley is 13 years old, becoming a teenager with five additional emotions: Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, Ennui and Nostalgia. While the first movie’s focus was showing how each emotion plays an important part in a person’s life, the second movie focused more on seeing the good in each emotion. None of the emotions were a true villain because all the emotions wanted to help Riley in their own way, with realistic flaws. For example, Anxiety proves that, though she sometimes caused problems, she had the right intentions when she claimed she was just trying to protect her.
One of the many great aspects of “Inside Out 2” was the character development, especially from Joy. Joy is used to taking control of every situation Riley is in, which is not how a teenager should handle every circumstance. Joy eventually accepts that she can’t always control Riley and her life. Even though happiness is a key part of a healthy life, it isn’t always the solution for everything, like when Riley got in trouble for goofing off with her friends. Joy starts learning that she isn’t always needed, which hurts her and her strong dedication to make Riley consistently happy. She finally cracks when she tells the rest of the emotions how hard it is to stay positive all the time when the rest of them only complain.
Joy isn’t the only emotion to undergo character development. There is also a change in Anger when he realizes that being angry all the time won’t help in every situation, either. He starts to get tired of being so hot-headed. This shows how emotions are deepening, while some, like Fear, are mostly the same. This is a great symbolic highlight of the movie that further deepens the characters and gives more growth and realism.
Another enjoyable detail of this movie was the character design, especially from the new emotions. For instance, Envy is small but there, Embarrassment is bright pink and reddish, Nostalgia is a sweet little grandma, Anxiety is bright orange and loud and Ennui is moody and lazy. These choices in character design present the emotion itself very well. Each emotion’s style added nicely to each character which helped the movie go up to where it is now.
Not only did this movie show how each emotion is important, but how every memory is, too. We learn that not all “marked” bad memories are bad memories, but they make Riley who she is. All of Riley’s memories then add to her beliefs and affirmations. Joy learns that those beliefs won’t always be positive, but they will vary to each person. These beliefs include sayings such as “I’m a good person, I’m selfish, I’m a great friend, I’m mean to others, I’m not good enough, I’m talented.” This is important because it’s definitely true! We all aren’t perfect; therefore, we won’t always think of ourselves as the perfect person. We all have flaws and imperfections, and that connection “Inside Out 2” makes to our everyday lives further connects us to the film. Other beliefs are a little longer like, “If I’m good at hockey, I won’t be lonely in high school” or “If I dye my hair red like everyone else, I’ll fit in.” This added exploration of Riley’s mind and how all the memories contribute to her and make her who she is made this movie feel fresh, new and relatable, all while living up to the first movie.
This movie highlights the truth about life for teens. Oftentimes, the scenes Riley went through in the film were very relatable and they presented interesting connections to teens in real life that aren’t just “stereotypical” or assumed. Examples of this would be the walking weirdly scene, laughing when you don’t know what happened, or lying about things you like or don’t like to please others. “Inside Out 2” is an amazing movie to watch for all ages. Kids can enjoy the fun, colorful characters while older audiences can truly enjoy this movie on a deeper scale.
