Inside Out 2
A movie review by Alex First
In 2015 Inside Out – about a young girl navigating her emotions when she moves cities – won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
The emotions on show – each a character in their own right – were Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness.
All are back in the sequel, along with a new set – Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, Ennui and Nostalgia.
Riley Andersen is 13 years of age and so it is that a red light goes off at “headquarters”, which undergoes a sudden demolition.
Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness are shocked with the unexpected arrival of rogue emotions.
That is when Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment and Ennui come to the fore, with Nostalgia also putting in an appearance.
This marks the onset of puberty, which also throws Riley’s parents into a state of confusion.
Riley and her two besties, Bree and Grace, are good ice hockey players.
At short notice, the trio is invited to participate in an ice hockey camp, which serves as a try out for the all-conquering high school team.
Riley is star-struck when she meets the team’s star player, Valentina “Val” Ortiz.
The former is faced with a difficult choice of trying to curry favour with Val and her teammates or sticking by her school friends.
Anxiety muscles in on Joy’s territory, adopting a win-at-all-costs mentality, which will see all the old emotions shunted into a vault.
But things go skew-whiff and while the old emotions scramble to get back to her, Riley is left to try to rediscover her true self.
Like the original, Inside Out 2 is clever, creative, colourful and comedic.
With valuable life lessons in play, there are still some beaut one-liners on offer.
Each of the characters is well crafted, so their respective personalities are allowed to shine through.
From uptight to cynical, good-natured to harried, collectively, they make up Riley Andersen, who, for all her inherent goodness, doesn’t always do the right thing.
Her traditional emotions’ grand adventure also sees them interact with Bloofy, a character from Riley’s favourite childhood TV show.
There’s a deep-seated purse, with a bag full of “tricks”, called Pouchy.
Also present is Lance Slashblade, a heroic video game character whom Riley had a crush on when she was younger.
Finally, there is a hulking shadowy figure named big dark secret.
In terms of voice talent, Amy Poehler returns in the key role of Joy and her adversary is Maya Hawke as Anxiety, while Kensington Tallman cast as Riley.
Inside Out 2 is fun-filled and wholesome, another triumph for Disney.
Rated PG, it scores a 7½ out of 10. Runtime: 94 mins
