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Since releasing Toy Story in 1995, the talented team at Pixar has tackled all kinds of tricky topics, going on adventures with .nightsandweekends.com/articles/07/NW0700350.php>rodent chefs, bumbling robots, and globe-trotting widowers. But in Inside Out, they tackle what could be their toughest topic yet: the deepest thoughts and feelings of a little girl.
Inside Out goes inside the mind of an 11-year-old girl named Riley (Kaitlyn Dias). Riley’s life has generally been a pretty happy one—with her colorful team of emotions headed up by lovable, upbeat Joy (Amy Poehler). But then, one day, Riley is uprooted from her life in Minnesota and moved to San Francisco, and her mind spins out of control as her emotions try to deal with the change. Sadness (Phyllis Smith) begins tainting Riley’s best memories, and when Joy tries to stop her, they both end up lost in Riley’s long-term memory, leaving Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), and Disgust (Mindy Kaling) to control Riley’s mind in their absence.
In recent years, Pixar has been criticized for producing the kind of fluffy, flashy, formulaic films that you’d expect from other animation studios—but Inside Out marks a return to the Pixar of old. It’s strikingly beautiful and often shockingly sophisticated—and it manages to handle a very difficult topic in a clever and often wildly entertaining way.
The main story here is anything but fluffy. It’s an emotional tale about a young girl who’s struggling with loneliness and depression after she’s forced to leave her friends behind and move to a strange new city where everything seems to go wrong. But while it’s guaranteed to tug on viewers’ heartstrings from time to time, it isn’t necessarily a heavy film. Riley’s most heartbreaking moments are balanced out by the antics of the lovable characters inside her brain as they fight their surroundings and each other to put everything back in order—offering a clever depiction of the brain’s inner workings in the process.
These colorful little characters delve into some pretty complicated subjects as they traipse through Riley’s subconscious and get stuck in abstract thought. And, quite often, those subjects will go far beyond younger viewers’ comprehension. The concepts—and the laughs—are sometimes surprisingly grown-up. But while it’ll have the adults in the audience contemplating the complexities the human psyche, the kids will just love the silly characters and their wild adventures through Riley’s colorful imagination. And they might even learn a thing or two about their own feelings somewhere along the way.
Inside Out is extremely sophisticated yet remarkably balanced—a grown-up story disguised as a fun kids’ movie. Admittedly, parents might appreciate it even more than their children, but it’s sure to give audiences of all ages something to laugh about, cry about, and—after it’s over—talk about together.
Blu-ray Review:
Not only is Inside Out an animated film that grown-ups can enjoy and appreciate with their kids, but the film’s Blu-ray release is also loaded with extras that they can enjoy after the kids are in bed.
Of course, there are some kid-friendly extras, but they come primarily in the form of two additional shorts: Lava, which played before the film’s theatrical run, and the all-new Inside Out short, Riley’s First Date? (though, admittedly my husband and I found it much more amusing than my daughter did). There’s also Mind Candy (which can be found on the separate special features disc), which introduces the emotions and offers a number of short clips of the characters in action.
For older viewers, though—those who are interested in the behind-the-scenes stuff—the extras offer plenty of insights into the filmmaking process. Some are more technical—like The Misunderstood Art of Animation Film Editing and Into the Unknown: The Sound of Inside Out. Others focus on the characters and their story—like Mixed Emotions, which discusses the creation of the five emotions, Mapping the Mind, which explores the massive animated set, and Story of the Story, which examines the story’s history and evolution.
Some of the most interesting extras, however, offer a different perspective. Our Dads, The Filmmakers is a feature by Elie Docter (daughter of director Pete) and Gracie Giacchino (daughter of composer Michael), a couple of teenage friends who decided to get together to show audiences what it is that their dads do every day. In the process, this feature offers a fascinating (and fun) look at Pixar (including the cereal bar) and the filmmaking process. And Paths to Pixar introduces the women of Pixar—from animators to voice actors—who tell their own stories. These are fascinating stories about artists, outsiders, career women, and mothers—talented, driven women who are doing what they love while making movies that they believe in.
Once again—with both the extras and the film itself—Pixar offers something for everyone. But there’s so much to see here that it’s worth taking the time to pick and choose your way through the features on both the main disc and the special features disc. They’re sure to make you feel a wide range of emotions.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
