Inside Out 2 (2024) Review!!

Synopsis – Follow Riley, in her teenage years encountering new emotions.

My Take – If anyone doesn’t believe the fact that Pixar knows how to push our sentimental buttons and get to our feelings, I urge them to watch the Pete Docter directorial Inside Out (2015).

A flawless original animated comedy that took its audiences into a young girl’s complex mind and showcased a bevy of colorful emotions that are trying their best to keep it together for the kid’s sake, crafting an uncannily relatable story and an emotional roller coaster in the process.

Nine years later, we are back into the same girl’s mind, now a newly minted teen and imagines the internal struggle, for all of us, especially when anxiety takes control.

Yes, while it doesn’t evoke the same emotional response like the first one did, the sequel still manages to hit all the right beats and delivers another sincere narrative that, combined with perfect humor and stunning visuals, will be as fun for kids and as it is delightful for adults.

Directed by Kelsey Mann and written by Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein, the film builds on its newer concepts with imaginative spark and shows an incentive willingness to explore a relevant new message: to embrace our various emotions and true selves. It’s a beautifully crafted film that’s equal parts hilarious and moving.

Indeed, though they have had a shaky time the past few years, this film once again places Pixar at the top of the storytelling and animation game, and I can’t recommend this highly enough. Go see it on the biggest screen you can find.

Set a year after the events of the first film, the story once again follows Riley (voiced by Kensington Tallman), who is now 13 years old, and is far happier with her new life in the Bay Area. She now even has a pair of close friends, Bree (voiced by Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green) and Grace (voiced by Grace Lu), who share her hobby of playing ice hockey.

While her emotions, the lively, fairy-esque Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler), the stout, hot-headed Anger (voiced by Lewis Black), the stringy, shaky Fear (voiced by Tony Hale), the broccoli-shaded Disgust (voiced by Liza Lapira), and the now more well-adjusted, teardrop-shaped Sadness (voiced by Phyllis Smith) continue to work in tandem to guide her through most situations.

Joy also now leads the charge in protecting Riley’s sense of self, a gorgeous flower-like structure that’s delicate like Riley herself and woven from glowing threads representing individual beliefs. Though they choose to eject her bad memories to the back of Riley’s mind, where they pile up in a far-away void.

Things further get exciting when Riley along with her pals get invited to a three-day hockey camp getaway by Coach Roberts (voiced by Yvette Nicole Brown) where she hopes to qualify for her school’s team, the Firehawks, led by her super-cool idol Val Ortiz (voiced by Lilimar).

The night before, however, Riley’s mind is thrown into disarray when Joy and Co. notice the red puberty button flashing and a demolition crew arrives to make way for new emotions. With frizzy hair and big plans to change things around, Anxiety (voiced by Maya Hawke), the leader of this bunch that also includes the precocious Envy (voiced by Ayo Edebiri), the disinterested Ennui (voiced by Adèle Exarchopoulos), and the painfully shy Embarrassment (voiced by Paul Walter Hauser).

And as Riley begins to confront these changes, creating a challenging internal dynamic, Anxiety ends up banishing all older emotions from the headquarters into the Vault where recessed memories are kept. This causes Riley to lose confidence and strain her friendships as she attempts to fit in with her new high school peers.

Indeed, the screenplay, by Dave Holstein and returning writer Meg LeFauve, reminds us of the first film in numerous ways, but doesn’t repeat its specific details. It does a great job at zooming into this years-long journey of self-discovery into just one difficult weekend, where friendships are tested and the awkwardness of growing up—making that leap from Middle School to High School, experiencing puberty for the first time, etc.—is on full display.

While its predecessor showed how a child develops her emotions and in that process, learns to accept her darker emotions, the sequel shows how a teenager deals with more complex emotions as she hits puberty and as a result, develops her sense of self.

We are reminded how Anxiety, Embarrassment and Envy can make us act without thinking, or without regard for others, not out of cruelty but out of self-preservation. It is charming to see how the film treats the new emotions with empathy, even though all of Riley’s bad decisions and the ensuing chaos unravel after they take control.

Considering how these new emotions are the harbingers of the central conflict, they could have been shown as the antagonists to the familiar protagonists—the basal emotions. But the makers are particular about treating this story about human emotions with profound empathy and understanding of the inner workings of psychology.

The journey is more focused on embracing it all and knowing that no one emotion can define you. You also have an adorable cameo by ‘nostalgia’ that’s going to make you chuckle.

And like all Pixar films, visually, the film is stunning. The animation is so detailed that I often felt like the solid-colored cartoon characters could step off the screen at any moment.

Voice performance wise, Amy Poehler is as joyful as ever and Maya Hawke is a delightful addition as the deeply sympathetic antagonist. In other roles, Kensington Tallman, Ayo Edebiri, Phyllis Smith, Tony Hale, Lewis Black, Liza Lapira, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan, and Paul Walter Hauser make for an eventful watch. On the whole, ‘Inside Out 2’ is a worthy sequel filled with funny moments, sweet touches, and fun surprises from a talented cast.