Inside Out (Movie Review)

Meet the Little Voices Inside your Head - Tagline for Inside Out

Some spoilers follow.

Someone said, Pixar thought, what if feelings had feelings? 
(apologies to the actual person, I can't remember who actually said it)

As the Honest Trailer for Inside Out so aptly put it, it makes you wonder how emotions can have emotions on top of emotions they literally are? Honest Trailer - Inside Out

I first saw this movie on Wednesday 22nd July, 2015 and nearly two years later I still cannot believe how much I truly enjoyed this film not having known anything about it as I was totally out of touch at the time with trailers and any synopsis of who was in the movie etc.

I think I should mention at this point, that the Pixar short - Lava before the start of Inside Out was strangely weird. I had forgotten when I went into the cinema Pixar's policy of having a short film before their actual movie. But it should be known that while Lava was alright, Inside Out was literally the shining light of Pixar, and being nominated for 110 awards and winning 51, rightly indicates that Pixar is great again! Yay! 

After three merely alright movies - Cars 2, Brave and Monsters University, in 2011, 2012, and 2013 respectively, the time taken over Inside Out (having released in 2015) showed in a great story-line and eye-pleasing animation, with the obvious opening for a sequel at the end of the film. It's sad but true that very few studios make great stand-alone movies anymore, everyone's looking to make great franchises to make more money. 

Irregardless of this, Inside Out was a might I dare say it? A masterpiece of modern animation. Inside Out (2015) topped Rotten Tomatoes' Top 100 Animation Movies list with a 98% score based on 319 reviews. It has also slotted in at # 41 on BBC's 21st Century 100 Greatest Films. This coupled with the nominations and awards won, makes it into a film that's truly head and shoulders above the rest. 

Now, mind you, I absolutely adore all of Disney Films released from their ever expanding studio portfolio - Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios, but this film I can safely say it's in my top ten movies of all time. 

One final plug for the movie before I actually get into the movie itself, against a budget of $175M, Inside Out made $857.6M, under-performed yes against the monster of Finding Dory (which was alright), but interestingly it's in the same position of Finding Nemo. 
Finding Nemo all the way back in 2003, made $867.9M. Let's hope Pixar takes their time with a sequel and make the right movie about 2025 so. 😃
Fingers crossed that the untitled films in 2020 are not sequels for Inside Out. 

Riley Anderson is born in Minnesota (I don't think anyone knows the year or it didn't really matter) and in her mind, five basic emotions Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger, come to life and influence her actions via a console in her mind. I totally love Sadness! 
As Riley grows up, her experiences become memories, stored in colored orbs, which are sent into long-term memory each night. Her five most important "core memories" are housed in a hub that each power an aspect of her personality which take the form of floating islands.

We are then rapidly introduced to the main story-line device, as due to Riley and her parents moving to San Francisco for her father's new business, she rebels and literally spirals out of control in Sadness. What follows was a mad and insanely wonderful adventure through Riley's mind - (note at age 11, she hasn't hit puberty as yet, so this is definitely a film for kids). We meet Bing Bong Riley's childhood friend on Joy and Sadness's adventures and the sacrifice that Bing Bong made, I am man enough to admit, I got all choked up and teary eyed at this part. Bing Bong (voiced by Richard Kind) did an amazing job with voice acting and made that into a memorable part of the film. 

Joy is voiced by Amy Poehler and she does an annoyingly happy take on her character. 
Sadness is voiced by Phyllis Smith and she does a critically acclaimed voice role of this character. Have I mentioned I lovvee Sadness?
Anger, Fear and Disgust were all secondary characters to the plot and were vital at various points to the storyline. 

I think one of the best parts of this film was the editing to be honest, because it made sense the cut-scenes to the real world of Riley while the main story-line was inside Riley's head. There was not any part of it that felt forced, abrupt, or a story filler. 

The road from development to finally releasing on screen was a long one (from 2009 - 2015) and it was worth every minute invested. Michael Giacchino, composed the soundtrack and he made a work of art! Just have a listen to the very first track played in the opening movie sequence, which set the tone for the entire movie - Bundle of Joy

Highly recommended movie to watch!