I saw the movie “Inside Out” today and here are a few things I thought about it:
As with most Disney/Pixar movies, it started with another short film beforehand. This one was called “Lava”. It is a musical about a lonely volcano who is longing for someone to be with him. He is singing about how lonely he is while over time he slowly starts to drifts into the sea. Later on we run into a female volcano who is already at the bottom of the sea. She he hears his song and thinks it was meant for her. Soon after that, he finds himself at the bottom of the sea but he is sad because he is stuck behind her and that she can’t see him (because volcanoes can’t turn around, silly). She then erupts and sprouts back up from the sea and he is sad once again because he can’t erupt and sprout back up with her. Eventually, he then erupts and comes back up from the bottom of the sea and conveniently (because it’s a Disney movie) sprouts out right next to her and the animation makes it look like they are caressing. Oh, and of course they are both singing together and the song happens to be very corny and cheesy.
Now it is time for the main movie. Inside Out is about a young girl named Riley and her emotions, Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust. Her emotions have been guiding her all of her life living every day and seeing it from her point of view. They would control her actions and dictate her reactions to every moment in her life from the headquarters in her mind. One day, her world turns upside down when her and her parents move from Minneapolis to San Francisco. We spend most of the movie within the confines of Riley’s mind starting with the headquarters where all of the emotions live. In there, they create memories which are encompassed within orbs colored by the emotion who created it. Her memories power different aspects of her personality while her core memories power amusement park like structures called memory islands. The stress caused by Riley’s sudden move brings the character of Sadness to the limelight. When Joy and Sadness are inadvertently swept into the far reaches of Riley’s mind, the only emotions left in Headquarters are Anger, Fear and Disgust to pick up the pieces. The world being introduced before this and especially afterwards is simply breathtaking in how vibrant, colorful, and how expansive it is. From the library of her long-term memories to the memory islands and the film studio producing her dreams, the imagination being shown here is not often seen in an animated film. A thing they did which I liked was that they showed the emotional process going on in other people’s minds as well as Riley’s. They also showed how similar they were even down to the same looking characters representing each emotion and the subtle differences between Riley’s emotions and there’s. I wished they did that more. The way the characters play off of each other was entertaining to watch especially because of the performances of the voice actors and the original writing being either the script or just the whole story. It is just the right amount of funny and sad while we see what each character experiences. It is a deep movie that can not only entertain children but it can also keep adults engaged despite being just a touch too long. I would definitely recommend this movie. This year is only half way done but this has to be the 2nd best movie I’ve seen this year. The best movie still is a sci-fi movie called Ex Machina which came out earlier this year which I also strongly recommend.
Score: 9/10
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The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.