All seems happy in Riley’s (Kensington Thalman) life and emotions. But things take a disastrous turn with the onset of puberty and the arrival of a new group, including the controlling Anxiety (Maya Hawke).
Of all the Pixar films to follow, Inside Out seems to be the most serious. While the end of the first film gave a clear indication of where the overall plot could be heading, with pre-teen Riley (now voiced by Kensington Thalman) on the brink of adulthood, aka emotional Armageddon, you had to wonder what the point of that? ? The original was so subtly drilled, with the lightest of touches, into the foundations of the human brain that it seemed to leave any sequel with little to do but renew it. Once you go into Psychology 101 and you’re even making gags about abstract thinking, where do you go?
The answer to Inside Out 2 is not to try to outdo its predecessor but to continue its emotional journey and maturity. This is immediately evident in her choice to start on an already established narrative path, rather than redirect for the sake of authenticity.
Riley is now 13 years old and about to start high school. Puberty has come and brought with it new, more complex emotions: anxiety (Maya Hawke), envy (Ayo Edebiri), boredom (Adele Exarchopoulos), and embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser). When Riley is faced with a choice between her old friends and a potential life with the cool crowd, her childhood emotions run wild as Anxiety leads her team on an attempt to forge a new Riley armed for life in high school.
Anxiety is at the heart of this worthwhile sequel.
If Inside Out was about learning to accept all our feelings, Inside Out 2 is about learning how and when to control them. It’s once again a pun-filled journey through Riley’s mind, as Joy (Amy Poehler) and friends cross gaping holes and close in on dark secrets (a scene as funny, silly, and inventive as anything in the original) on their quest to reach the back of her mind and rescue the true nature she’s been suppressing. . New director Kelsey Mann, working from a script by Inside Out writer Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein, stays true to Pete Docter’s work, moving quickly through the jokes, trusting the audience’s intelligence, and never showing off his own.
If most of the new characters are a bit thin, they’re used in some top-notch visual comedy, especially Embarrassment, who is desperate to hide despite his large size. However, the form of anxiety is beautiful, a misguided and not entirely evil figure, who worries himself in disaster. She, just like Joy, is the heart of that second most valuable part, about the parts of ourselves we can improve and the parts we just have to learn to accept.
This decade so far, Pixar films have had great ideas that have yet to reach their full potential. This is probably her best movie since Coco, and her best sequel since Toy Story 3.
