THE STORY – Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust have been running a successful operation by all accounts. However, when Anxiety shows up, they aren’t sure how to feel.
THE CAST – Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Tony Hale, Liza Lapira, Maya Hawke, Ayo Edebiri, Adèle Exarchopolous, Paul Walter Hauser, Kensington Tallman, Diane Lane & Kyle MacLachlan
THE TEAM – Kelsey Mann (Director), Meg LeFauve & Dave Holstein (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 96 Minutes
At the current rate Pixar is going, it was only a matter of time till they pumped out a sequel to one of their most successful recent ventures: “Inside Out.” It’s no secret that Pixar sequels (except the “Toy Story” films) almost always fail to live up to the quality of their predecessors, thus putting a lot of pressure on “Inside Out 2” to break this undesirable pattern. At the follow-up film’s conclusion, the defining emotional reaction is one that’s not anthropomorphized as a cartoon character – disappointment. The film’s greatest strengths are almost entirely overshadowed by similar positive attributes found in “Inside Out,” namely its humorous creativity and recognition of the importance of complex emotions to form a fully rounded human. As such, it’s hard not to feel this sequel is merely an unoriginal thought in Pixar’s proverbial mind.
Riley (Kensington Tallman), the young human at the center of the first film, has recently turned 13, and her emotions are now in a comfortable, balanced state. The five core emotions are working together nicely, with Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale), and Disgust (Liza Lapira) all doing their part to guide Riley through a difficult world. Suddenly, a blaring alarm indicates the sudden arrival of the dreaded Puberty, and with it comes a whole bunch of new, more complicated emotions. Anxiety (Maya Hawke) leads the charge, along with Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Ennui (a perfectly dry Adèle Exarchopoulos), and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser). They barge into Riley’s mind and take over, making it hard for the original five to keep control of their girl’s feelings, and soon, they must find a way to stabilize Riley as she enters this important new phase of her life.
Obviously, the most exciting element of the film is the introduction of the new emotions. The original five are well-defined and individualized in the previous film, making it easy for them to lead to fantastic jokes and moving moments. Here, the new emotions are intended to be deeper and more intricate than those that came before, which makes sense given that Riley is growing up and discovering more about herself. But almost paradoxically, there’s far less distinction in their construction than that of the first five emotions. In fact, the film even draws active comparisons to their similarities, especially of Sadness to Embarrassment and Fear to Anxiety. They more accurately could be described as addendums to the preexisting emotions rather than entirely new ones. The unfortunate comparisons to parts of the original don’t stop there – the entire dramatic thrust of the screenplay is a watered-down version of similar aspects from the previous film, leading to a dramatic conclusion that’s practically identical. While portraying a young person as experiencing repetitive emotional breakthroughs is not unrealistic, that doesn’t mean it makes for a compelling story.
The returning voice cast delivers reliably decent performances, with the film again centering around Poehler’s plucky character whose positivity, remarkably, never grates. Hale and Lapira replace two actors from the first film – Bill Hader and Mindy Kaling, respectively – and the change isn’t intrusive at all. Of the new emotions, Edebiri is the best, adding one more job well done to her current superstar run. Hawke doesn’t fare as well, lacking specificity in her vocal performance. Rather than adopting any particular voice affectations or making distinct choices, she mostly just speaks in sudden bursts of rapidity. Of course, this may be a directorial issue, as the entire film feels flat and lacking in ingenuity.
As in the first film, the animation is beautiful. Fantastical details adorn the well-designed emotions, and they’re all animated in a way that smartly emphasizes their characterizations. Ennui, in particular, moves in a manner befitting Exarchopoulos’ over-it performance. One brilliant moment when the central five emotions delve into Riley’s memory vault allows the animators the chance to vary the types of animation used, dipping into traditional hand-drawn and pixelated video game styles. It’s a welcome and hilarious change of pace.
The film is at its best when it delves into exactly what Riley is made up of mentally. A new area of her mind called the Belief System is shown to turn memories into beliefs, contributing to her sense of self. This nigh-philosophical approach to one’s inner being is simple enough for audiences of all ages to comprehend, and it’s visualized as well as the core memory system was in the previous film.
“Inside Out 2” is funny, but not as funny as the first film, and moving, but again, not as moving as the first film. Rather than being the revelatory exploration of the workings of the mind that the previous movie was lauded for, this sequel feels more akin to getting caught in a repetitive cycle of thinking that you know will end the same way it always has.
