A review of the new animated movie “Inside Out 2”
The original “Inside Out” was so good and so successful and it concluded with the discovery of a button labelled puberty, so I was sure that a sequel would soon follow. In fact, surprisingly it’s taken nine years for Pixar – with a new director Kelsey Mann – to provide us with the sequel, although in the narrative Riley has only aged from 11 to 13.
When I took my granddaughter to see the original film, she was only four and a half; now she’s 13 and didn’t want to see it with me but instead with her pubescent girlfriends. However, I now have two granddaughters and the second one (almost eight) was very happy to see the movie with me.
All the original five emotions are back, but now they are joined by four more, starting with Anxiety and including Ennui (boredom), which makes life particularly complicated for teenage Riley and at times a bit confusing for the viewer.
But the central message is the same: we all have a range of emotions and we need to balance them, ensuring that Joy always shines through. Again we have a wonderful palette of vibrant colours and some inventive scenarios such as the Mount Crushmore.
There is bound to be an “Inside Out 3” and I’m sure that we won’t have to wait another nine years for it. I wonder if the third film will have the courage to deal with Riley’s body changes and sexual awakening.