Inside Out is the thesis, the ultimate statement of why Pixar is a necessary force in today’s filmmaking world. After a two-year absense - and some would say an even longer creative absence - Pete Docter, one of Pixar’s original genius filmmakers has brought the studio back with a touching, charming film. Inside Out gets the human emotions like few other films ever had and therefore explains why Pixar needs to make movies that make us cry.
The story of Inside Out is actually simple oncce you get accustomed to the system of how our inside works, at least according to the film. We are taken inside the mind of Riley, an 11-year-old girl whose parents move from Minesotta to San Francisco. Talk about a cultrue shock. It’s even more shocking to the emotions. Joy (Amy Poehler) tries relentlessly to keep Riley happy, a plan that Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Fear (Bill Hader) understand. But Sadness (Phyllis Smith) keeps getting in the way. Joy can’t even understand why Sadness is needed if she only exists to make us sad.
During Riley’s first day of school, Joy tries to keep Sadness away from the core memories that shape Riley’s personality. Sadness touches one anyway, making Riley cry in front of her classmates. During Joy’s efforts to get this to stop, she and Sadness are sucked down a memory tube, which takes them out of the control room. They have to get back there with the other core memories to save Riley’s personality.
This all sounds like the set up for yet another Pixar adventure in which two companions who don’t like each other get stuck on a journey and have to make things right. But somehow, the film becomes more than that because there is such creativity bursting at the seams of this film. The journey is filled with some of the best animation Pixar has created yet - the abstract thoughts sequence will particularly have art students stunned - and the writing is as witty as ever.
While Docter’s last film, Up, had a relatively small cast and a world that wasn’t too different from our own, her Docter is forced to create a world of his own, as he did successfully in Monsters Inc. And just like in that film, the way things work is so expertly told that we never feel like it is boring exposition. In Monsters Inc, we just bought the idea that screams make electricity. In Inside Out, we easily buy this interpretation of how the world within our minds works.
It’s also key that Docter and the writers came up with an entertaining supporting cast that didn’t just feel like they were there to plug in story holes. Anger, Disgust and Fear all have important jobs to do and are even the ultimate cause of the heart-pounding climax. The imaginary friend Bing-Bong (Richard Kind) is even there to help Sandess and Joy get on the “Train of Thought.” (I told you the writing was witty.)
The voice cast could not have been more perfectly assembled. Amy Poehler was the best choice for Joy and Phyllis Smith’s deadpan delivery of Sadness’ lines bring heart to the character. Lewis Black, who literally looks like the embodiment of anger on stage, is the only person who could play Anger.
Like all Pixar films, it really does come down to the bonds between characters and the bond between Joy and Sadness is also the explanation for why we need sadness in our lives. It seems so inconceivable that a children’s movie should even dare touch that subject, but Pixar had to do it. Sadness is a bridge to happiness, making those happy moments even more memorable. Understanding it gets to the heart of Inside Out, the heart of Pixar and the heart of great storytelling.
Inside Out is also preceded by Jim Murphy’s short film Lava, so please check out my interview with Murphy right here.
screenshot from Disney Pixar YouTube Video
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