Introduction
Hello, fellow adventurers! Blaziker is back for yet another exciting animated movie adventure, and today, we are heading back to the world of emotions as we are covering perhaps one of the most, if not the most anticipated, mainstream animated movie of the year, and that is the sequel to an Pixar classic, Inside Out 2!
With Riley reaching her teenage years, dealing with her new environment including being on an ice hockey camp that featured her ice hockey icon, Joy and the rest of the Emotions we saw in the first movie are joined by new Emotions, who may be causing more havoc for Riley than intended as Joy and her friends deal with their new environment.
I am going to make a confession: I had not seen the first Inside Out back when it was released in theatres in 2015 (update: I did, and it was a masterpiece). Yeah, I know, I should have seen this much earlier, but now, the focus is on what could be Pixar’s future, having announced a recent spate of restructuring and lay-offs. While last year’s Elemental is a great comeback for this studio, and it earned quite a good box office run, it did almost nothing to stop the slump Pixar is currently suffering from. Will Inside Out 2 be the shot Pixar needs to get back on a track, or are they back on the worrying slump?
Only one way to find out, on to our emotional adventure!
Key Information
- Director: Kelsey Mann
- Animation Studios: Pixar
- Country of Origin: United States
- Rating: PG
- Release Date: 14 June 2024 (in Singapore)
Trailer
The Review
Story and Characters
One major change regarding the Inside Out sequel is that instead of Pete Docter (who is pretty much the face of Pixar at this moment) who directed the original, Kelsey Mann (who is also a Pixar veteran who has worked on various Pixar movies and shorts in the past) directed the sequel (in fact, this is Mann’s debut Pixar feature as a director), and there was this genuine fear that the writing would not be up to par with the original. Thankfully, Mann kept the original vision of the first movie while also upping the ante with this sequel.
Despite the various layoffs at Pixar for the past few years and a few director changes with this movie, Inside Out 2 covered most, if not all, of its bases by being more serious with how it tackles changes in one’s mind, including anxiety and emotion hijacking, something that I and many others had experienced before. In fact, even though there were similar elements to how it tackles panic attacks like with 2022’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Inside Out 2 explores that concept even further thanks to the visualisation of how this works, while also keeping the ethos of this movie being about the emotions and feelings inside out head very well.
In addition, the pacing of this movie is just right for me, as there was never a dull moment in this movie. Every scene, every moment and every emotion invoked in this movie had a purpose and it was used with both intent and with depth, making it such a comprehensive movie for me. In fact, the pacing felt frantic, but that is very deliberate thanks to the new Emotions, but more on them later. The comedy and jokes, just like the “sar-chasm” in this movie, flows so well and had great build-up without much chickening out, resulting in a lot of laughs throughout my screening.
In addition, let us not forget about the characters because they are so integral to this movie. The original Emotions in the sequel are back (with just the voice acting change for Disgust to Lisa Lapira who was excellent in this movie) and we see more in-depth into them in general, and not just Joy (Amy Pohler) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith) in the first one, but still great in the sequel. We got to see more personalities and screentime from Disgust, Anger (Lewis Black) and Fear (Tony Hale) as they joined Joy and Sadness to explore more of Riley’s mind and they were a lot of fun with.
Speaking of fun, how about we introduce the new Emotions who all played an integral role with this story? Anxiety (Maya Hawke) is the so-called “villain” of the story who only wanted the best for Riley, and she was both delightfully chaotic and hilarious in this movie without feeling too awkward. Envy (Ayo Edebiri) is just as wide-eyed and jealous of everyone else (but who’s very supportive of Anxiety’s actions) as she should be, Ennui (Adele Exarchorpoulos) can crack a few “boring” jokes here and there while being in her bored self, and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser) is a cute and shy guy rounding up the new Emotions despite his sheer introvert nature. These new Emotions inject both fun and depth into the movie’s story.
Not forgetting this movie are the human characters, with Riley (Kensington Tallman) once again navigating her transition from middle school to high school together with her friends Grace (Grace Lu) and Bree (Sumayyah Nurridin-Green) as they venture to an ice hockey camp where they meet the high school’s star player Valentina (Lillmar) and Riley wanted to impress her in any way possible. These human characters also get enough screen time to make them important to the story, but not distract from the main plot at hand, which are Riley’s emotions.
It is not just that the characters get a lot of development and balancing of screen time that makes this movie impressive, despite the large cast of characters, but it is also the voice acting. Seeing some of the behind-the-scenes footage of the voice acting performances and how the voice actors and actresses were all having fun with this movie shows that you can turn live-action actors and actresses to fantastic voice actors if you give them enough training and guidance to make them stand out.
In fact, there were so, so many things to rave about the movie’s writing, that I am going to just leave it here, for if we need to talk about more reasons why I love the movie’s writing, we will be here all day.
Animation
Just like with the original, where we get to see the playfulness of the movie’s animation style, Inside Out 2 also follows this abstract and cheeky animation style, only this time, there was a bit of an upgrade with the animation.
First off, the character and background animations are just delightful to look at, with each and every Emotion being both distinct and just a delight to look at. I mean, look at Envy’s large eyes and short statue, for crying out loud! The various places in Riley’s mind are a delight to look at, with each and every place feeling so vast and colourful at the same time. In fact, this movie also plays other animation styles other than computer-generated animation, as we got to see cartoony hand-drawn animation and video game sprite-style animation with a handful of characters that sometimes defy the rules of animation.
The movie also did not forget the designs of the real world as, while it is pretty much similar to the first movie, Inside Out 2’s human character designs are well done, and the backgrounds are also well-detailed and in place. Pretty much virtually element of the movie’s animation is done with both due care and dedication, resulting in an animation style that is just as unique and playful as the original.
Despite the layoffs in the animation department at Pixar, it is clear that they did not sacrifice animation quality because the animation in Inside Out 2 is just as stellar as the first and blends in with the movie’s excellent writing super well.
Soundtrack, Other Elements and Level of Enjoyment
Michael Giacchino (who is already a mainstay for Pixar and Disney in terms of scores) returned to produce the movie’s score and once again, no complaints about how the movie’s score not just carry the movie forward, but also invokes the right emotions at just the right time again.
In addition, compared to previous Disney and Pixar movies, the marketing for this movie is both strong and comprehensive, as not only do the trailers invite me in without spoiling too much about the movie, but the marketing also showcase the amount of craft put into this movie, which brings both casuals and fanatics into this movie.
On my level of enjoyment, yeah, this movie is a masterpiece, no doubt. It is not just the fact that Inside Out 2 is a nearly perfect animated movie that makes it well worth going to cinemas for, but it is also a movie that reminded me why Pixar is still a well-beloved studio even amidst the amount of turmoil within Pixar as of now. I was honestly in tears by the time this movie ends, which is usually a good sign, I must say.
Conclusion
Well, I should not be surprised, but I still am after witnessing yet another incoming masterpiece from Pixar.
Inside Out 2 is as close to the original in terms of the emotional impact it has compared to the original, filled with writing that felt sincere and complete, comedy and jokes that flow so naturally, characters with so much personality and development, especially with the new Emotions, the animation is once again delightfully abstract and enhanced for 2024 standards, and the score is one again fantastic.
Given this is one of the most anticipated animated movies of 2024, Inside Out 2 not only delivered on these expectations, but it managed to be as good as the original in more ways than one, and I hope Pixar continues on this upward trajectory. Honestly, with it being a box office smash hit on top of its high critic ratings they need this more than ever.
Thank you so much for joining along for this adventure, and we will have four more animated movies to cover in the final Animated Movie Rundown of the first half of 2024. Until next time, see you on the next adventure!
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
