By Erin Free
Worth: $18.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black), Tony Hale, Liza Lapira, Maya Hawke, Paul Walter Hauser, Ayo Edebiri, Adele Exarchopoulos, Kensington Tallman, Diane Lane
Intro:
...hits the same kind of authentic emotional beats that made its predecessor such an instant classic.
The list of modern classics courtesy of animation powerhouse Pixar is a long and illustrious one, and to call out the superb likes of Toy Story and Finding Nemo would merely be stating the obvious. One of Pixar’s most inventive, entertaining and original films has unquestionably been 2015’s Inside Out. It’s also one of the most obvious sequel candidates in the studio’s collection, with its story of the warring emotions inside a pre-teen girl’s head practically daring the creators to take on that most tumultuous emotional time of all: puberty. With Inside Out 2, they take the big step into adolescence, and – after a few high-profile box office misfires – they pretty much nail it.
As our loveable protagonist Riley (voicer Kensington Tallman is in for Kaitlyn Dias) becomes a teenager, her longtime dominant emotions – Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale in for a money-grabbing Bill Hader) and Disgust (Liza Lapira in for a similarly money-grabbing Mindy Kaling) – come under attack from a powerful new horde of adolescent-born feelings in the crazed, overpowering form of Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), Envy (Ayo Edebiri) and Ennui (Adele Exarchopoulos). Led by the manic Anxiety, they start by suppressing Riley’s defining emotions, and then attempt to turn the burgeoning teen into a new – not necessarily better – person. Can Joy and the team keep Riley’s moral compass properly set?
Filled with many, many moments that will go gleefully over the collective heads of the film’s target audience, and many sequences that will delight them to no end, Inside Out 2 is a terrific distillation of what it’s like to become a teen. The confusion and chaos are perfectly embodied in the imaginative new emotions (all very well cast and voiced), while the landscape of Riley’s mind and imagination are conveyed through a rolling succession of ingenious visual motifs. Inside Out 2 is smart and funny, and hits the same kind of authentic emotional beats that made its predecessor such an instant classic.