Are you looking for a heartfelt, fun, family movie to watch on a Friday night? Well, look no further because Inside Out 2 is that movie. This movie was a great sequel to the original hit film Inside Out, which came out in 2015. I thought Inside Out 2 was a wonderful continuation of the story, comedic and captivating for all audiences.
Inside Out 2 was released in theatres in late June but has been streaming on Disney Plus since September 25. This was a perfectly-timed theatre release because everyone was getting out of school, and it sure did make an awesome start to the summer!
Produced by Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Pictures, the film sold over $1 billion and a half at the box office. Inside Out 2 is one of the eleven animated movies that have met or surpassed $1 billion worldwide in the box office.
The director and story c0-writer, Kelsey Mann, also directed popular Disney movies such as Monsters University (2013), The Good Dinosaur (2015), and Onward (2020). Mann wrote this alongside co-writer Meg LeFauve.
In the original Inside Out movie, Riley (Kensington Tallman) was shaken up when her dad got a new job, and her family had to move from her home state of Minnesota to San Francisco. She had to leave her school, friends, and even her old hockey team behind. As she navigates life’s ups and downs, she has had the emotions of Joy (Amy Poehhler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Liza Lapira), and Fear (Tony Hale) to help her along the way.
As Riley’s new life in San Francisco begins, Joy and Sadness get transported out of headquarters. Fear, Disgust, and Anger are left to take care of Riley, but that doesn’t go as planned. All of her (what they call) “memory islands” start to crumble, and Riley gets the idea to run away to go back to Minnesota. Only Joy and Sadness can help ease Riley’s feelings and restore her happiness. By the end, Riley learns that it’s okay to feel various emotions at one time, especially after a big change.
If you haven’t watched the first movie Inside Out, I definitely recommend watching it because it will make more sense. But if not, you can still understand the story just without the background knowledge and context.
But now in Inside Out 2, Riley is 13 years-old and is on the verge of high school. She and her two friends Bree (voice of Sumayyah Nuriddin) and Grace (voice of Grace Lu) were invited to a hockey skills camp by the high school coach. Except the night before the camp, Riley’s headquarters (where all of her emotions live) experiences construction, as it is making way for new emotions. The new emotions Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser) are introduced. When Riley wakes up the next morning, she feels different and starts to have extreme emotions.
On the way to camp Riley’s friends tell her some big news ( Spoiler alert: Her two friends are going to a different school) that makes her changes her entire perspective on camp. Riley then fixates on making the Varsity Hockey team and basically forgets her friends. The emotion Anxiety takes over and decides to bottle up Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Anger, and Fear. The new emotions are now controlling Riley and her beliefs, which result in her doing actions she normally wouldn’t do. The original emotions must find their way back into headquarters and stop Anxiety from controlling Riley before it’s too late.
Inside Out 2 did a wonderful job portraying how different emotions such as anxiety or jealousy can affect us in life, sometimes making us act like a different person. Adding new emotions helps not only kids and teens but also adults realize that it’s okay to have these emotions and not to suppress them. In the movie, the character Anxiety is shown to care about Riley and just wants the best for her. Inside Out 2 contains a good representation of a range of feelings and helps to normalize complex emotions.
The movie’s run time is 1 hour and 36 min long; in other words, it is perfect for kids of all ages. It continues along with the original storyline and adds more into the story but just enough that it’s not overwhelming. The animation is also really captivating because of its colors and sound effects.
Since the movie is so colorful, and there’s so much movement happening, this could be a sensory overload to some people. I didn’t experience this but, I can also see how this could happen. Even though Inside Out 2 can be for all ages, it can definitely be confusing for younger kids (below 8 years old), especially since it’s talking about the complicated emotions that can be related to puberty. Parents can take note of this and decide what is best for their family.
Nonetheless, it’s still a great movie that can be a fun family friendly treat for movie night.
