Core Memories. Personality Islands. Imagination Land. These are just a few of the driving forces behind protagonist Riley Anderson’s thought process in Disney and Pixar’s Inside Out. The original concept takes viewers on a behind the scenes tour of a young girl’s mind as the script explores how her emotions affect her behaviour. Five emotions – Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust and Fear – run an intense operation and guide her through life’s challenging moments like being the new girl at school.
The characters clearly express their feelings through their large eyes and energetic voices. For example, Disgust (Mindy Kaling) has extra long eyelashes and her sassy personality makes her quite entertaining. No matter which emotion they represent, every character speaks with conviction.
Meanwhile, Amy Poehler’s character Joy is the woman in charge. She’s not bossy, but eager. She wants Riley to be happy. All of the emotions have a symbiotic relationship that helps Riley function like a typical preteen. When that gets disrupted, chaos ensues. Midway through the movie, I was so engrossed that whenever Joy and Sadness stood at the edge of a cliff, I felt nervous for them. That’s a tell-tale sign of good storytelling.
Without Joy and Sadness in headquarters, Riley becomes miserable. In fact, she can barely think clearly and she loses her motivation to play hockey, which is her favourite pastime. The remaining emotions inspire her to be rebellious as she loses sight of what makes her happy.
Riley is on the cusp of puberty, a coming of age moment that her emotions are ill prepared for. Like Andy in Toy Story 3, Riley also stops playing with her toys and imaginary friend Bing Bong. At eleven years old, she already has an imaginary boyfriend. With dark hair and a leather jacket, he’s fairly handsome at that.
Inside Out is a clever story that held my interest, as I became invested in the characters and the outcome. Filled with vivid colours, outstanding visuals and a killer cast that includes Bill Hader and Rashida Jones, this is a family movie worth seeing.