Inside Out 2 Review

Pixar returns to Riley’s mind for another coming-of-age odyssey that features a wide array of emotions in a sequel to Inside Out.

Riley (Kensington Tallman) is now 13 and set to start high school. She gets invited by Coach Roberts (Yvette Nicole Brown), the coach of the high school hockey team to attend a three-day training camp. Riley has a chance to prove herself to the coach and the older girls on the team, but a new emotion ends up taking over Riley’s mind, Anxiety (Maya Hawke).

Inside Out was a critical and commercial back in 2015. It was a wonderfully thoughtful and emotional experience as a girl learns she needs to accept all her emotions. It was one of Pixar’s best films and it can stand alongside Wall-E, Up, and Coco. It’s one of my favourite Pixar films. However, Pixar hasn’t been the powerhouse it used to be. Three of their films, Soul, Turning Red, and Luca were turned into Disney+ exclusives, Lightyear did poorly at the box office and was considered one of Pixar’s worst films, and Elemental was a slow burn at the box office. Added to that Disney’s animation slate has pivoted towards sequels. Some of their upcoming films are Moana 2, Toy Story 5, and two more Frozen films. Before the release of Inside Out 2 Pixar announced they’re going to lay off 175 people, 14% of their workforce.

Inside Out 2 has been pitched as an event film. At my local Odeon, most of the showings were of Inside Out 2 and there were balloons in the colours of the emotions. Many of the screenings were fully booked and Inside Out 2 has had an excellent opening weekend. Alongside Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Inside Out 2 has given the box office a much-needed boost. But Inside Out 2 does have a lot to live up to because of the quality of its predecessor especially since some Pixar follow-ups were lacklustre like Monsters University and Incredibles 2.

Structurally Inside Out 2 does bear a lot of similarities to the original film. It was split into three narratives that were interlinked. One part of the story was about some of the emotions having to protect a valuable part of Riley’s mind, the story was about the other emotions struggling to control Riley, and the third was about Riley herself as she navigates a turbulent time in her life. Inside Out and the sequel were both coming-of-age stories. The sequel has a similar message to the original where suppressing emotions will have negative consequences. Luckily Inside Out 2 does enough to differentiate itself and continues Riley’s story.

The first Inside Out film was a family drama since it was about Riley’s family moving to San Francisco and her struggles to cope with all the changes in her life. Inside Out 2 focused on Riley’s friendship and the transition in life. Riley was facing teenage issues and had teenage emotions like anxiety and embarrassment. She was thinking about her potential popularity which meant she was willing to ditch her old friends so she could befriend the high school hockey team and put pressure on herself to make the team even though she’s only 13. Anxiety made Riley willing to change everything about herself to impress Val Ortiz (Lilimar) and her teammates.

Riley suffered from peer pressure but the film was nuanced enough to avoid the cliché of the older girls being a bad influence on the youngster. The issue for Riley was personal pressure, the stress she put on herself. It made Inside Out 2 into an animated version of Eighth Grade and Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret. Riley’s inner issues made Inside Out 2 into a more family-friendly version of Big Mouth since the emotions in her head were amplifying what she was really thinking. The previous film showed Riley was growing up and moving on from her young childish past, whilst the sequel showed that Riley needed to embrace the past.

Anxiety was the villain of the film. She launched a coup against Joy and the other emotions and brings out Riley’s worst aspects. She set out to change everything about Riley and her sense of self. Anxiety corrupted many aspects of Riley’s mind and turned some parts of it into a dystopian nightmare. Yet Anxiety thought her actions were for the best for Riley and trying to protect the teen. She didn’t see herself as a villain. Anxiety was a strange-looking character who was brimming with manic energy and she puts a new meaning to the term ‘manic pixie dream girl.’

Inside Out 2 does a great job of showing how Anxiety works. She acted as a nagging voice in the back of Riley’s head and gave her person a constant sense of self-doubt. It gave Inside Out 2 a feeling of relatability since nearly everyone has felt like that at some point in their life, whether it is because of a major event to worrying about something minor. Inside Out 2 had a panic attack scene that could rival Puss in Boots: The Last Wish for emotional impact.

In Honest Trailers‘ video on Inside Out, they made the joke “What if feelings have feelings?” This felt appropriate for Inside Out 2 since Riley’s emotions were more than their base trait. Joy (Amy Poehler) suffered from the pressure of being the leader, Anger (Lewis Black) showed he could be tender, and Disgust (Liza Lapira) developed a crush on a figure in Riley’s mind.

I went to see Inside Out 2 with my 5-year-old nephew. He said he enjoyed the film. It was bright and colourful, had desirable characters, and lots of visual and physical humour. There were jokes I laughed and chuckled at and I did admire some of the different styles of animation when the emotions were stuck in the vault. However, Inside Out 2 deals with some complex ideas and themes and they did go over the heads of some of the younger audience members.

Inside Out 2 was a worthy sequel to one of Pixar’s best films. It continues Riley’s story, focused on big themes about mental health and growing up, and still has a sense of familiarity. Pixar shows they still have the touch.