Inside Out 2: Pixar's Comeback?

I don't think I need to tell you that Disney hasn't been doing so well in recent years. Whatever you think of the increasingly prevalent themes of diversity and sexuality in their films, the numbers don't lie, and it's never a good business model to alienate roughly fifty percent of your prospective audiences. For those of you who are unaware, 2022's Lightyear was banned in most predominantly-Muslim nations due to a same-sex kiss. Whatever you think of this particular issue, I must say that I have no idea why a studio that loves money as much as it does green-lit this idea for a feature film, and Lightyear ended up losing Disney over $100 million. Turning Red was kind of grounded by Covid before it could ever take off, but looking at the public consensus surrounding it, if you think that a movie trying to appeal to a particular demographic by talking about an issue that's kind of taboo within that very demographic would do well in theaters, you're kidding yourself. My point is that Pixar thrives on being able to walk the line between being critically solid while simultaneously being the crowdpleaser, and when it is no longer pleasing crowds, their films tend to go belly-up. Well, before the whole controversy over Disney's politics went sideways, they released a film in 2015 called Inside Out. It was insanely good while also being universal. And so when I saw that Disney was releasing a sequel for it after fifty percent of their audiences had jumped ship, I asked myself a grim question: "What will Disney do that will make audiences hate them this time? " Well, I went to watch the film with the family, and to my complete and utter surprise, this film actually did nothing of the sort. Inside Out 2 is a lot of things. It's universal. It's inoffensive while also being inventive and resonant. It's gorgeous to look at. It's a sequel that embodies every bit of what a sequel should be. And above all of that, this movie is good. It's well-written and wildly intelligent, and while it's not perfect, and may not quite live up to the glory of the first film, it stands on its own two feet just fine, and it has me wondering something I wasn't sure I would ever wonder again: what will Pixar do next? Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves, and review Inside Out 2 first.

To throw out the brief synopsis, Inside Out 2 follows Riley and the emotions inside her head as they navigate a pivotal moment in everybody's life: puberty.

So, I love that this movie decided to focus on puberty. Inside Out thrives off of emotional crisis, and what time in life is more emotionally unstable for most everyone than puberty? This was a smart idea to effectively set some intelligent stakes for this film and ensure that this movie follows the mold that the original film laid down while also doing something new and exciting with it, which is exactly what a sequel should do (either that or be so radically different from the original film that people can't help but talk about it). This movie never feels like it's playing second fiddle to the original so much as it feels like a genuine part two that actually makes a lot of sense. It's clear that the writers of the film knew what they wanted to do from the get-go, and so we were saved a sloppy cash-grab sequel and were instead given something just about as thoughtful, emotional, and complex as the first film. And speaking of change, the new emotions in this film are actually kind of awesome and aren't just added to the mix because the studio wanted something to be different. Anxiety, envy, boredom, and embarrassment are staples in the minds of hormonal teenagers, and they are wonderfully depicted. Especially Anxiety. I don't personally have it, but some people I cared about a lot did, and I turned to my mom after the film and told her that this was exactly how someone I used to know would act whenever she got anxious. She was never malicious, but her worry too often seemed to get the better of her, and this was precisely how Anxiety was portrayed in the film, to wonderful effect. Boredom does tend to get something of the short end of the stick and isn't focused on as much as Anxiety, Envy, and Embarrassment, but the new characters in Inside Out 2 are just marvelous and complement the old crew wonderfully.

I think that a lot was riding on this movie when it came to how well it would be able to evoke an emotional reaction from the audience. After all, it is a movie about emotions themselves. And I can assure you that the emotional beats of the sequel are spot-on. Inside Out 2 is genuinely funny while also being genuinely poignant. It may not be as emotionally raw as the first movie, but I don't think it needs to be. That's a really tall order and not really one that this movie necessarily needs to fulfill. I appreciate the filmmakers using a bit of restraint when it came to the emotional beats of the movie because the first film pulled off a really delicate balancing act, and trying to replicate something like that would have made the sequel run the risk of being melodramatic or would have pushed it towards discussing some subject matter that may not be appropriate for a film such as this one, issues the likes of addiction, depression, and teen suicide. Long story short, Inside Out 2 is a satisfyingly emotional flick that wears its heart on its sleeve in a genuine way that feels a lot more like actual emotions, and a lot less like Hollywood's usual approximations of them. In terms of the film's plot, it does struggle with some initial pacing issues, namely a conflict that, while quite well-rounded and well-executed, was hastily established in a way that felt really odd and almost last-minute, like the writers had an excellently-written and plotted quest for our characters to go on, and didn't really know how to start it. However, one thing this movie never feels is bloated, and its pacing is as smooth as smooth can be.

A simple yet profound plot? Well-rounded characters that actually feel like real people? Emotional resonance without pithy preachiness? Is this really a modern Pixar movie? Well, the answer is yes, and this isn't just me saying divisive and hot-button things to get people talking: I'm what the culture's feeling, and the obscene amount of money that this movie is making repeats that fact over and over and over again. This is a nice change of pace, and in a lot of ways, I think that I am genuinely excited to see what comes out of Pixar next. Animated kids movies were never meant to be divisive. They were meant to spark imagination and explore universally recognized ideas rather than pull us back down to the petty and subjective squabbling of our existence, and if Pixar keeps making movies like this, I think that this will be a good business model for them. One can hope that this is a return to form for the studio. I'm all for sequels if they can contain the same or similar amounts of depth as the originals, and here's to hoping that Moana 2 doesn't suck.

Seriously, the first Moana is incredible. Almost as good as Inside Out.

Inside Out 2 - 9/10

Romans 12:1-2