The latest offering from the animation giant of Pixar is a nostalgic and comforting homage to our youth that entertains, delights, and harkens us back to the horrors of tweenhood. At the end of the day, who could ask for more?
The history of the cartoon’s captivating second installment is littered with examples of excellence. From “Shrek” and “Puss in Boots” to “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Toy Story,” there is simply no shortage of stupendousness in the field of animated follow-ups. While “Inside Out 2” is not as amazing as the sequels mentioned previously, is no exception to this rule.
The second of this film series has everything we’ve come to love from the first “Inside Out.” It’s inventive, adorable, touchingly heartfelt, and heartbreakingly relatable. In this movie, we are guided through Riley’s tumultuous experience of puberty by our old favorite feelings: Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Fear, and Anger, as well as a gaggle of fresh-faced new emotions, the most important of which is—by quite a large margin—Anxiety.
Voiced by Maya Hawke of “Stranger Things” fame, Anxiety barrels into the story with a mission, one that most of us know all too well: to prevent awful things from happening by indulging in excessive worry. The story that unfolds from this pinpoint of conflict is rife with laughter, love, and some embarrassing moments for Riley that border on belonging in a horror movie.
Riley’s main mission in “Inside Out 2” is to land a spot on the high school varsity hockey team. After learning that her friends from middle school are transferring to another district next year and being thrown into the whirlwind of “teenagedom,” Riley has no shortage of problems to sort out throughout the movie.
The setup we’ve grown accustomed to from the prior film is demolished within minutes of the starting time. This representation of Riley’s major changes reminds us of all the terror and excitement that comes with leaving childhood behind. As the first film was released approximately a decade ago, many viewers may be experiencing this change right along with Riley. Others may be transported back to the time in their own lives when they transitioned from a kid to a young adult. In either case, be sure to whip out the tissues for this one because it’s going to get teary by the end. I can all but promise you that you will cry at least once.
There are many fun additions to the ever-evolving landscape of Riley’s inner mind. The sarcasm “chasm” that the characters must cross in their journey as well as the swirling light bulbs that comprise a visual representation of a “brainstorm” were two of several standout moments in the incredibly creative film.
The other new emotions were cute, but they didn’t serve the story to the extent that Anxiety and the original feelings did. Ennui was, by all accounts, utterly unnecessary. Besides a few somewhat amusing offhand comments, Ennui just sat there on their phone embodying boredom with the ironic twist of being rather boring themselves. While I did enjoy Ayo Edibiri’s performance as Envy, her character also failed to contribute to the narrative in a meaningful way, but there are worse offenses than being adorable and less pivotal.
While it lacked some of the panache and originality of the first “Inside Out,” the movie did exactly what it set out to do. It depicted the many ways in which life and, by extension, our young minds, are altered and expanded by the simple act of getting older.
Get ready for a barrage of emotions, both new and old, and sit back for an hour and a half of charming characters and an engaging story. This one is definitely worth watching.
Gabi Merchen is a fourth-year communication major at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.
