Inside Out 2 Review: Puberty and New Emotions

Following the success of the first movie, "Inside Out" (2015), Pixar Animation Studios returns with the story of Riley, the endearing protagonist. The original ensemble of voice actors, including Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, and others, return to bring Riley's world to life.

In this sequel, as Riley grows older, her emotional gang welcomes new members who complement her evolving emotions. The movie promises a new narrative that will shape Riley's core memories. Who are these new emotions that will join Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust?

Synopsis

Riley (Kensington Tallman) has started to grow up. She is about to step into high school with all the new experiences that await her. This makes her emotions also develop, especially in a situation where Riley is in puberty.

Her ever-present emotions of Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale), and Disgust (Liza Lapira) are no less enthusiastic about Riley's future. Riley herself dreams of joining the Fire Hawks hockey team, which is famous among young athletes.

Sweet and funny memories, friendships, and other positive experiences had finally taken shape within Riley's memory headquarters, shaping her sense of self. However, this sense of self faces a sudden threat when Riley's two close friends, Bree (Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green) and Grace (Grace Lu), unexpectedly say something surprising.

They would not attend the same school as Riley in the future, even though they had previously promised to stay together and even join the Fire Hawks team. This broken promise sent Riley's emotions into turmoil and gave rise to four new emotions in her memory headquarters.

The new emotions include Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Upset (Adèle Exarchopoulos), and Shame (Paul Walter Hauser). Their sudden appearance clearly confuses the existing group of "senior" emotions. Joy and the others immediately try to find out what had happened.

Joy learned that these new emotions emerged because Riley was going through a period of self-discovery. Unfortunately, the way these four emotions worked is contrary to Joy and her group's approach. The new emotional gang always made Riley feel safe in the wrong way, forming Riley's rough personality.

Anxiety began to interfere with Riley's life by causing her to overthink and imagine negative scenarios about everything, all in an attempt to prevent Riley from facing her fears. This change had a huge impact on Riley, completely changing her attitude.

Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust disagreed with what Anxiety was doing. Displeased with their opposed opinions, Anxiety asked Embarrassment to send Joy et al. to the lower part of Riley's mind so that Anxiety had control over the console of Riley's emotions and thoughts. Anxiety even removed Riley's sense of self.

Moreover, the new emotions recklessly started creating a bunch of negative memories to keep Riley on their toes. They made Riley fearful of losing an elimination match or failing to secure a spot on the Fire Hawks team. They also made Riley become 'someone else' in order to be accepted in her new circle.

As a result, Riley's emotions and thoughts are getting worse day by day. Meanwhile, Joy and her friends try to get out from Riley's mind and return to headquarters with the help of cartoon characters from Riley's childhood, Bloofy (Ron Funches) and Pouchy (James Austin Johnson).

After successfully leaving Riley's mind, Joy and friends begin their journey back to the bad memory dump to retrieve Riley's sense of self, which Anxiety had thrown away, and immediately put it back at headquarters. At the same time, Anxiety tried to create a new sense of self for Riley.

As Joy and Anxiety fought, Riley became increasingly uncontrollable. She starts being sarcastic, entering the trainer's room without permission to look at her assessment notebook, lying about things and even abandoning her long-standing friendship with Bree and Grace.

Joy and her team are now racing against time, finding the journey to headquarters more challenging than expected. Numerous new memory ball storage blocks appear along the way, and Anxiety forces workers in these blocks to project failures, pushing Riley to work harder.

Unable to stand it any longer, Joy immediately took control of the memory block, limiting Anxiety's manipulation. This gives Joy and her team additional time before they reach headquarters. Just as Joy nearly gives up, she finally got a brilliant idea.

Joy blows up the cliff where the bad memory ball is stored, causing it to fall into the river of the sense of self; that way Joy can gain access to the headquarters using the elevator. However, upon reaching the top, they discover that chaos has already happened.

Riley had a panic-attack because Anxiety made Riley overthink, especially about hurting her friends on the hockey field.

Taking charge at the console, Joy insists that Anxiety must release Riley so she can regain her true self. Joy didn't even put her sense of self in the memory box.

Joy wanted Riley to let go of all her emotions and finally form a new sense of self, one that integrates all emotions, achieving balance within Riley's soul. Once she calmed down, Riley apologized to Bree and Grace and everyone she had ever hurt and moved on with her life.

Story Development

For most children, understanding the storyline of this movie, both the original and the sequel, might be challenging. Their interest likely lies in the adorable characters like Joy and her friends, as well as the vibrant colors and shapes that aid in cognitive development.

However, for teenagers and adults, the experience is quite different. We are deeply touched by the portrayal of how magical our emotions and minds are. We understand the underlying mechanisms and identify with the core emotions depicted in the film.

While watching, our own emotions seem to resonate with the storyline. We experience annoyance, anger, sadness, and empathy. Kudos to the filmmakers for making such a complex and relatable movie.

Details

Pixar and Disney are renowned for their attention to detail in creating animated characters, as what they did in Inside Out 2. In this sequel, the creators portrayed Riley as a 13-year-old teenager, complete with braces and facial acne.

Riley's appearance also changed, she grew taller, and her voice matured. Moreover, the creators also ensured that the new characters' appearances matched their personalities.

Anxiety with its messy hair on top of its head, Envy with its big eyes that love to see other people's strengths, Ennui or boredom in French with an oval shape but no energy, and lastly Embarrassment with a big shape that always covers its face.

Each Character Has an Important and Balanced Role

This movie teaches us the importance of emotions, emphasizing that relying on just one emotion isn't sufficient for our well-being. As being portrayed in the first movie, Joy's initial selfishness in pursuing Riley's happiness ended up numbing Riley's other feelings.

The same thing happened to Anxiety who actually had good intentions towards Riley. However, Joy understands that her past mistakes should not be over again, so she tries to warn Anxiety. In the end, it reminds us to understand that all emotions are valid and must be balanced.

Watching this film with family and friends is a perfect experience, as it evokes various emotions and resonates with our personal journeys, much like Riley's story. Showspoiler rates this movie, directed by Kelsey Mann, 4.5 out of 5.