On paper I have a lot of problems with Inside Out 2. It really is a movie that shouldn't work as well as it does and yet the magic of film I walked away having enjoyed my experience- almost in spite of itself. If you are someone who is skeptical of what it has to offer I would encourage you to give it a shot. It may be messy and imperfect but what from Pixar isn't these days? Overall it may have enough heart and charm to win you over like it did me. Here are some of my thoughts:
We begin Inside Out 2 with Riley starting puberty at 13. This would be late for most girls these days with typical window being 8-13 in America. She honestly might be having questions of why these changes weren't happening to her sooner like with Margaret in Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret who was 11 in that film. It certainly seems unlikely that she wouldn't have had any signs like body odor or a puberty button emotion-wise by 13.
Anyway, Riley's dive into puberty happens at the same time as her transition to high school and the hockey camp for the high school. I guess this high school doesn't have a JV hockey team because it seems like her one shot to playing is with this older high school players. Riley also finds out her two best friends aren't attending her high school. It seems unlikely that this would be new information to her as high school attendance is usually determined by geography so I don't know why Riley is just finding this out attending the camp but whatever.
She is now forced to decide between her old friends and tastes and ingratiating herself with the new older girls. This invites our new characters of Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment and Ennui. I think anxiety, embarrassment and fear are pretty redundant in the world of emotions but again whatever.
I am not the biggest fan of the use of Anxiety in this film as the primary villain. It takes over the other emotions literally putting them in a jar and sending them to emotions jail. We've spent so much time in America telling kids and adults that anxiety is natural and part of human experience. Treating it as a villain makes me uncomfortable.
That said, there are some relatable aspects to Riley's arc. I remember the stress of having to pick between different groups of friends as a young teen. Also knowing you'd been not picked by former friends is hurtful and hard. All the friends stuff is just hard at that time in life.
Also I really liked how they had the core emotions going on a journey to rescue Riley's Sense of Self. While you could argue this is just repeating the arc Joy took in the first film it was a different enough wrinkle to get me invested. I also like that Sadness is asked to lead in a very meaningful way that I appreciated.
In addition, the humor in Inside Out 2 worked well with Lewis Black leading the show once again as Anger. Tony Hale and Liza Lapira also fit in seamlessly as the new Fear and Disgust respectively.
One of my favorite moments of the film is when Joy realizes that human beings simply don't feel as much joy the older they get. It's sad but absolutely true. I groaned a little bit when they all the sudden have Anxiety in the minds of all the characters like the Parents when they didn't have them in the original films. But again whatever. It's not a perfect film but it did have enough emotion from Joy and Riley to win me over.
Of course, the animation is always lovely from Pixar and the music by Andrea Datzman is a lovely homage to what Michael Giacchino did in the first film.
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Fortunately kids aren't going into a Pixar film for a clinically accurate depiction of anxiety, puberty or any other mental health condition they might experience. What I do think it can help with is start a discussion about what Riley is experiencing and the good and not so good decisions she makes along the way. Also what Joy learns about letting Riley make those choices and not hiding the bad experiences in the back and pretending like they don't exist.
I don't know if any mental health allegory would be perfect and if it was it probably wouldn't be something we'd want to watch. As is, Inside Out 2 has a big heart and enough moving moments to win over this critic.
Smile Worthy
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