Sophisticated & Thoughtful ‘Inside Out 2’ is Movie Magic

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Rating: 5.0/5.0

CHICAGO –Pixar Studios rediscovers some of its movie magic with the thoughtful and sophisticated “Inside Out 2.” It’s the sequel that doesn’t feel like a retread of what came before but instead is a natural progression of the story we’re already invested in … as early adolescence and puberty arrive to crash the kid party.

We pick up the story with Riley, now a 13-year-old girl, still obsessed with hockey and getting a surprise invite to a big weekend hockey camp. The first emotional hiccup to handle for Joy (voice of Amy Poehler) and her “mission control” is when Riley’s two best friends reveal they’re going to a different high school next year.

Inside Out 2
Photo credit: Pixar/Walt Disney Studios

But Joy’s positivity seems to have things all wrapped up, with a system of banishing bad memories to the back of the mind so Riley’s sense of positive self can blossom.This all changes the night before the camp when puberty arrives like a literal wrecking ball into mission control headquarters. The onset is accompanied by three new emotions … Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri of “The Bear”) and Ennui (Adele Exarchopoulos).

Even worse, Anxiety essentially stages a coup, and uses Joy’s own device to jettison Riley’s childish sense of self to the back of her mind. Then Anxiety banishes Joy, Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Tony Hale), Anger (Lewis Black) and Disgust (Liza Lempira) from the mission control board, only to get locked away in the half forgotten vault deep in her subconscious. This leaves our once confident girl in the throes of a mess of new emotions frantically and fundamentally changing who she is. The rest of the story involves the original gang of emotions trying to recover Riley’s sense of self, and then return it to her control board.

The casting in this movie is absolutely perfect with each voice attuned to their complex emotions. Meanwhile Riley must navigate how to bridge friend groups and impress hockey players from her new school, while figuring out what to do about her best friends. This is the sort of development that everyone has gone through, and it never feels forced or phony … it feels true to life. The animation is inventive and entertaining throughout as the Pixar team makes psychology deeply involving and entertaining.

Puberty Alarm Goes Off for the Gang of ‘Inside Out 2’
Photo credit: Pixar/Walt Disney Studios

As the father of a girl approaching adolescence, “Inside Out 2” managed to hit a particular sweet spot for me. There are all sorts of little markers for what is in store for me ahead. The size of the family island in adolescence relative to the size of friendship island hit particularly close to home.

I also liked the mom’s and dad’s inner reactions when they ask how camp went and get a muted one word reply with the bare minimum of information. Pixar goes back to the basics of human emotion and in the process has found itself a certified winner.

By SPIKE WALTERS Contributor HollywoodChicago.com spike@hollywoodchicago.com