Humans are nostalgic creatures and given Pixar’s stellar track record, audiences have higher-than-average expectations whenever a new movie is announced.
With recent films from the animation studio receiving middling reviews, however, one can’t help but ask: is it unrealistic to expect ‘Toy Story 3’ or ‘WALL-E’ calibre movies every single time?
While you mull over the answer, it’s time to see how their latest offering, “Inside Out 2”, fared.
The first movie from 2015 ended with pre-teen Riley’s emotion Joy (Amy Poehler) learning to embrace Sadness (Phyllis Smith) as a necessary emotion. Now, Riley (Kensington Tallman) has turned 13, officially a teenager.
Understandably, new emotions show up in her mind such as Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edibiri), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser) and Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos).
The new quartet, led by Anxiety, starts taking over and banishes Joy, Sadness, Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Liza Lapira) and Fear (Tony Hale) to the back of Riley’s mind.
As the teen heads off to ice hockey camp with her friends, she struggles with the prospect that everyone will head off to different high schools soon, and desperately tries to fit in with a cooler team.
At the same time, Joy and the gang trek back to Riley’s mind headquarters to take back control.
First off, Poehler is, again, amazing as the voice of Joy. Portraying a literal emotion, the “Saturday Night Live” alum gives depth and charm to her seemingly one-dimensional character.
This is particularly so when circumstances get so hopeless that even Joy almost loses hope. Yet she picks herself up and encourages the others to do the same.
On the opposing side of Joy is the film’s scene-stealer, Hawke’s Anxiety. All too familiar to those experiencing puberty like Riley, she’s that voice at the back of your head that says: “What if this goes wrong?”
Hawke grasps what her character requires and delivers a great performance, and is the only one of the new emotions to be properly fleshed out. Anxiety means well, but will also ruin your life if left unchecked.
The studio capitalises on Riley’s imaginary friend Bing Bong from “Inside Out” who was a fan-favourite, by making Joy and the gang deal with some past obsessions as well.
This includes Lance Slashblade (a PlayStation 2-style video game hero), Bloofy (a character reminiscent of Barney that Riley loved as a pre-schooler) and Pouchy (a bottomless fanny pack filled with dynamites). Cleverly animated, they add much-needed fun and levity to the plot.
Now for some of the not-so-good parts – the film’s plot. The sequel is basically a rehash of its predecessor, with the main characters having to travel back to Riley’s mind headquarters to restore her sense of self (again).
Despite the new emotions being valuable to Riley as she navigates life in high school, they are portrayed as inferior to her basic emotions. Ultimately, with the unwillingness to let her embrace them fully and grow into a complex, layered person, the key message turns out to be somewhat superficial.
Other than that, as the two main clashing emotions, Joy and Anxiety spend much of the movie apart, which is a pity as their conflicting ideals on what is best for Riley could have made for some engaging and thought-provoking dialogue.
Overall, “Inside Out 2” is a good sequel that offers amazing voice performances and gorgeous animations, with intelligent interpretations on the emotions associated with puberty.
However, with all its merits, it lacks the emotional punch of the first movie as a whole.
‘Inside Out 2’ is currently screening in cinemas nationwide.