We’re back in Riley’s head as she faces puberty, but can Pixar repeat the success of the first film? Find out in our Inside Out 2 review.
Inside Out might be the best Pixar film ever made. Heck, it might even be one of the best films ever made. Pete Docter’s 2015 animation managed to somehow make those pesky feelings and voices inside our heads accessible and easy to understand for both children and adults. Its central message – you need all your emotions, none of them are bad – felt almost groundbreaking because no one had said it out loud before. At least, not with this much charm and honesty.
When Inside Out 2 was announced, you could almost hear the collective groan let out by fans. We didn’t need – or want – another Inside Out, because frankly, how could it ever match the magic of the first one? But a sequel we got and it’s our pleasure to tell you that Inside Out 2 is absolutely delightful.
We return to Riley’s head a few years after the events of the first film. Joy (still voiced by Amy Poehler) is still very much running the show, but she’s now giving more space for her fellow emotions: Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Liza Lapiro) and Fear (Tony Hale). All is going well, until Riley hits puberty and more emotions show up at Headquarters.
The newcomers – Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), Envy (Ayo Edebiri) and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser) – are led by Anxiety (Maya Hawke), who boots the old gang out of their Headquarters, claiming Riley now needs more “sophisticated” emotions to guide her through life.
Much of Inside Out 2 follows the structure of the original. Joy and the other old emotions have to get back to Headquarters to get Riley, who has been whisked off to a hockey camp where she is torn between old and new friends, back on track. The repetitive structure of Inside Out 2 is by far the film’s biggest weakness, but the ending is what really strikes a chord.
Pixar has been very vocal about the new belief system that they’re introducing for Riley. The belief system, which is located underneath Headquarters, basically forms Riley’s deepest sense of self, how she sees herself and what kind of a person she believes herself to be. Anxiety, naturally, messes with that, and Riley is led astray as she makes plenty of wrong choices.
In all honesty, I had my doubts about Inside Out 2, even while watching it. It’s funny, endlessly enjoyable and very handsomely made, but it took a while for it to get going and it wasn’t until the very end that it revealed something so profound, so relatable that it immediately made me well up. Once again, Pixar has nailed the very core of Inside Out perfectly showcasing the messiness and ugliness of being a teenager.
It’s rare that we see a panic attack in animation (Puss In Boots: The Last Wish notwithstanding), but we see one here. Inside Out 2 manages to convey just how overwhelming those moments of panic and anxiety are and what goes on inside your head. It complicates the ideas introduced in the first film and expands on them. Kids are lucky to have films like this and I wish I had something like Inside Out 2 when I was entering my teenage years to help me navigate and understand all the emotions inside my head.
The voice cast are on pitch perfect form again with Liza Lapiro and Tony Hale seamlessly taking over from previous voice actors Bill Hader and Mindy Kaling. Out of the newcomers, Hawke is given the most to work with and she’s a joy to listen to, as is Amy Poehler as Joy. Most of the new emotions feel more like accessories rather than fully fleshed out characters, but it partly works in the sequel’s favour; Anxiety is such an overwhelming feeling, there isn’t room for anything else. You can really see those reported Uncut Gems references here.
Inside Out 2 isn’t perfect and it doesn’t quite match its predecessor, but it’s a very good sequel nonetheless. It has plenty of heart and manages to say something meaningful about being a teenager. Like Soul and Turning Red recently, Inside Out 2 is up there with some of Pixar’s finest work.
Inside Out 2 is in cinemas 14th June.
