Inside Out 2 Review – Tackling New Emotions

One of Pixar’s greatest strengths is taking a fairly simple concept and crafting an emotional story for audiences to follow. They’ve once again done so with a sequel to their 2015 film, Inside Out, that further expands upon what it might be like to see one’s inner emotions and thoughts. Inside Out 2 is a movie that dives deep into the chaotic and shifting tides of a young girl entering puberty and growing into their high school years. It’s a rollercoaster for the emotions who return from the first film, as well as a slew of new emotions that appear as this young girl enters the next phase of her young life.

The movie takes place about after the first Inside Out, with Riley getting ready to enter high school with prospects of playing hockey at camp and spending time with her friends. Riley’s emotions continue managing her inner mind and create a new section of her true self, which relies on Riley’s memories. But as things are going smoothly, a Puberty Alarm goes off and mind workers arrive to make changes to the mind, as well as make preparations for new emotions to show up in Riley’s mind. The original group of emotions, led by Joy, is faced with the arrival of Anxiety, Embarrassment, Envy, and Ennui. While they all want what’s best for Riley, Anxiety forces Joy and the group out in order to take control of Riley’s actions. What unfolds is a struggle in Riley’s mind between Joy and Anxiety before any real damage can be permanently done to Riley’s true self.

The best part of Inside Out 2 is how creative Pixar has interpreted different aspects of Riley’s inner mind and thoughts. Some of clever visualizations of thoughts and personality traits, while others are hilarious renditions of ideas that someone would have. Everybody will have to laugh at the sight of the giant Sarchasm that echoes back anything that someone says in the most sarcastic way possible, or the view of Mount Crushmore with the heads of those who Riley is infatuated by. These are really clever interpretations of the feelings and ideas we have about different aspects of our lives but taken to the far extreme. It’s silly and completely ridiculous at times, but hilarious in both its delivery and presentation.

But beyond how colorful and interesting the setting is, Pixar has put together a heartfelt tale about growing up, dealing with raging emotions, and what it means to be authentic to oneself. Everybody can relate to what it means to struggle with being our true selves with others and how stressful it can be with how we perceive things. We not only see Riley go through this personal struggle but also watch as her inner emotions deal with the same thing. Joy is the ever-cheerful leader who lives up to her namesake, and yet still feels the pressure of always trying to be perfect and positive about everything. Each emotion we know from the first film has its version of this which plays out through the film, running parallel to Riley’s story at hockey camp. It’s a theme that is consistently reinforced by nearly every other character as well, which leads to a climax and conclusion that is both thoughtful and heartfelt.

There are a few minor things that Inside Out 2 lightly stumbles on, one of which is the lack of any real danger to Riley herself throughout the story. The biggest problem for all the emotions is Riley losing her authentic true self due to the new emotions taking control. But there are hardly any real consequences on Riley’s life at hockey camp because of this. The film tries to show how Riley’s anxiety about making new friends and doing well enough to make the Firehawks hockey team affects her relationship with her friends, but that’s it. There’s even a scene where Riley sneaks in somewhere to do something that she shouldn’t be doing, yet faces no consequences for it. It’s never brought up again afterward. Had more of Anxiety’s actions with Riley led to more drastic consequences, it would’ve further enhanced the danger for Joy and the crew to get back to HQ and regain control.

At the same time, we don’t get to spend more time with some of the newer emotions we meet. Anxiety has the most screen time because of her importance to the main plot. But Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui are regulated to the background for most of the film, which is a shame because we know a lot about all of Riley’s other emotions. The biggest standout of the trio is Embarrassment, which has a few key scenes that play off other emotions like Sadness and become instrumental in the climax. But Envy and Ennui don’t have much to do for the majority of the film, outside a few humorous moments when we first meet these new emotions within Riley. It would’ve been interesting to see more of these emotions play more heavily into events with Riley in a hockey camp, where they do more with Riley’s actions with varied results for everyone.

The film also lightly plays with exploring the inner emotions of other people within Riley’s life, much like in the first film. However, it keeps things focused on Riley’s mind and emotions, rather than spending too much time on anybody else. It would’ve been nice to see more of the back ‘n forth between people and their emotions, which Inside Out does briefly. The best example of this is an interaction between Riley and her mother when having a talk about changes, which has some hilarious commentary on dealing with teens going through puberty. Parents will definitely laugh at the scenario, but even more so at the inner response from the emotions of Riley’s mother.

Something that Inside Out 2 does well towards the finale is keeping certain aspects of the ending vague, allowing them to be explored in a sequel if possible. For some viewers, it might be a little annoying to not have definitive answers, but it also fits right with some of the ideas the movie highlights at the end. Accepting the outcomes and changes that come with time and growing up, regardless of how good or bad things might be. Although there aren’t a lot of drastic changes to Riley’s life as a result of everything that happened from the new emotions arriving, it still had enough changes to lend credence to what the film was trying to convey.

Inside Out 2 is a great animated movie for families to watch together. It’s a very wholesome story that isn’t afraid to poke fun at some awkward moments that we all share within ourselves. There’s a lot of potential for Pixar to continue this story with these characters and explore other aspects of growing up. The rendition of emotions and the rollercoaster they go through as someone enters a new phase of their life is very relatable as much as it’s interesting to watch. If you want another good Pixar film to enjoy, you can add this to your lineup of films to watch.