In 2015, the brilliant minds of Pixar Animation Studios took audiences into the mind of young girl named Riley and asked us to go on of the most exciting, heartbreaking, and inventive adventures. The original Inside Out was truly a work of art, with its brilliant ideas and characters leading the way to become one of the studio’s most well-received films to date. So, when they announced they were crafting a sequel, fans were excited while a bit anxious on what the film would bring. Pixar decided to take that anxiety and put it front and center as the sequel explores the next stage of growing up. However, how does Inside Out 2 compare to the original? Well, here’s my review of the film.
This review is spoiler-free, as no major plot points will be discussed and no images outside of the trailers and promos will be shown.
So, as I mentioned in the introduction, Inside Out 2 introduces new emotions in Riley’s brain as she gets older. The primary new emotion is Anxiety, who tries to take over Riley’s brain and leaves the main five behind, believing that Riley needs more complicated emotions than them. This takes Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust on an adventure back to headquarters as they try to stop Anxiety from completely taking over Riley. This makes for a unique adventure, as the five exploring similar areas from the first movie while also some new areas.
Inside Out 2 is one of the most beautiful animated movies I’ve seen when it comes to the visuals. The lighting effects on the characters and memories is still impressive and there are so many little details in everything throughout the film. The film really shines, so to speak, as it’s just beautiful to look at. There’s also some scenes that try different animation techniques, including one scene made of papercraft, and even 2D elements that mix uniquely with the 3D elements. Like most Pixar films, the lighting is the most spectacular part of the animation, and it looks brilliant throughout the film.
Now, as I mentioned, the film is really creative and unique (just like the first film), but I did have some small issues with it. For starters, I didn’t find the film as compelling as the original. The first Inside Out roped me in as soon as it really got started, and it had me until the end. This film was still entertaining, but it didn’t rope me in as much as the previous film did. I think I found that the general seemed to happen very quickly, where Riley dealt with everything going on with her maturing mind fairly quickly. It was still cohesive, but it just seemed too fast. However, my biggest problem is that, at least to me, I found the film to be quite similar to its predecessor. While it does have unique elements, the general story beats just felt too similar. Something causes the primary emotions to get lost in the aisles of memories in Riley’s mind and they must return to headquarters before something bad happens to the emotions currently controlling her. Some people reading this may not have this problem, but at least for me, it seemed like Pixar may have played it a bit too safe with the film’s general story beats.
Overall, I definitely enjoyed Inside Out 2. From fun and creative new characters, an exciting plot, and of course a great cherry on top to close it out, the film does a lot right with only some minor flaws (which many of you reading this may not agree with). While it doesn’t come close to the original, the sequel is still a fantastic film that gets a 5.2/6 on the Ryan Meter. I highly recommend this film to parents and children alike. While young children will most certainly not understand what is going on, I’m sure they’ll still enjoy it, and I know this because all the toddlers in the theater when I saw the movie expressed their opinion of the film multiple times throughout the movie – and it was all positive.
What are your thoughts on Inside Out 2? Let me know in the reply section below.
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