Inside Out 2: even more emotions running wild

Disclaimer: the following movie review does not contain spoilers. I’m not giving away more than is already out there or in the trailers.

When Pixar released Inside Out in 2015, they really turned things upside down. The story of eleven-year-old Riley, whose personified emotions Joy, Anger, Sadness, Disgust and Fear go crazy because of a house move, caused a storm of enthusiasm around the globe. The movie tells the story of the complexity of human emotions with a great deal of humour and a certain lightness. At the same time, it’s extremely profound and plays on your heartstrings, leaving viewers misty-eyed.

Inside Out is a great movie for all ages. Catering for such a wide audience is a balancing act not many supposed children’s movies can pull off. So it’s unsurprising that this film is considered one of the best Pixar has ever made – if not the best. With an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film under its belt and box office takings of over 850 million dollars, it didn’t come as a great surprise when Disney and Pixar announced a sequel to the blockbuster in September 2022. Now, nine years after the first part, Inside Out 2 is about to hit cinemas. Will it be able to fulfil the high expectations its predecessor’s raised?

The kid needs more emotions

By now, Riley’s 13 years old. Things are going great, be it at ice hockey practice or with her friends. Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust have everything under control in the command centre in Riley’s head. But changes are imminent – on the outside, but mainly on the inside. As new emotions surface, Riley goes into puberty. Here come Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment and Ennui. When they take over the controls in Riley’s emotional hub and mess with the old emotions, chaos is on the horizon.

The newcomers are shaking things up

Riley’s new emotions in Inside Out 2 are a great addition. Anxiety, Embarrassment, Ennui and Envy cover a large part of the wide range of emotions you go through during puberty. «Am I enough?», «Do I belong?» or «Why are my parents so bullheaded?». These are questions most of us asked ourselves repeatedly as we took our first tentative steps on the path to adulthood. Frankly, many of us still have this kind of inner dialogue from time to time. After all, puberty’s here to stay in some ways.

My favourite of the new emotions in Inside Out 2 is definitely Ennui with her wonderful kiss-my-ass attitude. Her sarcastic and ironic remarks made me laugh or at least smile in every scene she was in. Probably because she reminds me so much of myself. But the leader of the new pack is undoubtedly Anxiety. This new addition is pulling, or rather creating the strings in Riley’s teenage turmoil. For example, when she starts rummaging around in Riley’s memories.

Not much has changed apart from the emotions

Inside Out 2 illustrates the trials and tribulations of puberty in a highly entertaining way, without being too superficial. But given the complexity of the topic, I’m not convinced this mix still works as well as it did last time to both big and (very) small viewers. Puberty is more likely to appeal to a 10+ target group. But I guess there are still plenty of funny characters doing funny things, so it probably doesn’t matter. I therefore agree with the age rating 6 and the addition «recommended from 10 years».

Given all this praise, is Inside Out 2 another masterpiece from Pixar’s forge? Well, yes and no. I’d say yes, if it weren’t for its predecessor. To date, director Kelsey Mann has primarily worked as a storyboard artist at Pixar. For his directorial debut, there’s no doubt he’s done his research and copied the recipe for success from Pete Docter, the director of Inside Out, Soul and Up. In fact, maybe he copied it a little too well. Apart from the new emotions and the slightly different subject matter, I’m missing the creativity, innovation and new ideas that characterised the first part.

There were scenes in Inside Out 2 that felt like a carbon copy of the first part. Just more of the same. On the one hand, that’s okay, because «the same» means one of the best things Pixar has ever produced. At the same time, it’s a bit of a pity because the sequel’s lacking surprises. For an animated movie in particular, puberty offers a huge playground for creative ideas, crazy jokes and even more depth. In fact, this phase of life goes hand in hand with many more feelings than those introduced in Inside Out 2. They’re the ones that make pubescent people do crazy stuff.

And Riley does do some crazy stuff in Inside Out 2. For example, pretending to like things to please others. Or ditching her old friends because she thinks the new ones will be better. She has sudden emotional outbursts and takes it out on others without really knowing what’s going on. «Been there, done that», I keep thinking to myself with a smile. At the same time, I’d love to see new facets of puberty that haven’t already been tackled in all those other coming-of-age films out there.

More courage. That’s what this film could’ve done with. More courage to go deeper and describe the emotional chaos of a teenager in an even more nuanced way. Especially given the possibility of portraying various emotions. More courage to display the dark, almost depressing drama that is puberty. After all, when you’re that age, it’s the end of the world a dozen times a day. If not more. And more courage to be cheekier. Perhaps even sprinkle some suggestive jokes in there more suited to adolescents and barely making the age recommendation of 6 years old. In Inside Out 2, Kelsey Mann deals with puberty, but goes the easy route like his predecessor Pete Docter. Sure, Riley’s feelings argue a lot and create chaos, but they all make up in the end.

In other words, Kelsey’s played it safe. But nothing feels safe during puberty, as we all know.