Inside Out 2
K G Kline
For a film about emotions "Inside Out 2" is a remarkably logical film. It's a sequel that does exactly what it's supposed to do - a plot nicely set up at the conclusion of "Inside Out". I'm not saying "Inside Out 2" is predictable. I'm just saying it picks up where the first film left off and goes in the direction it should, which is refreshing at a time when many sequels (especially Disney-helmed ones) are simply rehashes of the original film.
As a refresher, "Inside Out" (2015) followed Riley, an 11-year-old girl, as she struggles with simply being an 11-year-old girl. The real story was inside her mind where five characters, her five core Emotions, discuss her troubles and vie for opportunities to solve them. Joy, Disgust, Fear, Sadness, and Anger are the real stars here and they get most of the screen time - especially Joy, voiced by SNL alumni Amy Poehler.
What made the film so memorable was how closely it followed real concepts of child psychology, especially the theories of Dacher Kellner of USC Berkley. Pete Docter, the film's writer-director, used Kellner's theories of how emotions organize our thought processes to create a literal internal landscape that the five Emotions must navigate while guiding Riley's decisions and social interactions as they form her sense of identity.
If that sounds like a tedious academic exercise, you couldn't be more wrong. Docter and his team spent over five years developing characters that are fun and imaginative while keeping three quarters of the film set in their fantastical world. Docter is now head of Pixar, so for the sequel he's passed the reigns to storyboard artist Kelsey Mann to direct, with a screenplay by Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein
So, where do you go with a sequel to a story about an 11-year-old girl? Well...Puberty, of course.
The film begins as the wrecking crew arrives to reconstruct Riley's' emotion control room. Moments later four new emotions arrive - Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui -a squiggly limp worm with a cellphone that represents Boredom (Parents of teenagers will recognize Ennui immediately, even if they don't recognize the name).
Kudos to Disney for broadening the cast. How tempting to do the sequel with only the original five emotions, but that would have failed to maintain the film's premise. As children mature, they develop new and more complex emotions. Kelsey Mann and Meg LeFauve recognized this and added four new ones (interestingly, all four were originally created and discarded for the original film - and he still has 18 more left for future sequels).
In an uncomfortable acknowledgement of real life, Anxiety soon takes control of Riley. At first, she makes some good decisions, allowing Riley to act more maturely and develop friendships with older high school kids. Unfortunately, and realistically, it isn't long before Anxiety gets out of control (parents of teens, take note) and causes more harm than good, forcing Joy and the original Emotions to come to the rescue.
The "Inside Out" films work because Pete Docter and his extensive writing team keep Riley's story simple (In this case, it's a three-day hockey camp), while the real action is all happening in her mind. Mann keeps Riley a realistic 13-year-old girl, allowing the Emotions to be the over-the-top characters the kids come to see. Kids will enjoy the comic antics of the brightly-colored Emotions, while adults will identify with the film's more complicated themes and story-behind-the-story.
Perhaps more than any other animated films, the "Inside Out" series offers parents an education (Yes, parents, you can learn something here). The first time around it paid off for Pixar. The original "Inside Out" made $850M at the box office, and this one is just as good. Unfortunately, since COVID-19 parents haven't been taking their kids to theaters. If "Inside Out 2" fails to match the first film's box office success, it's only because parents today aren't taking their kids out to see movies, and not in any way a reflection of the film's quality.