Pixar’s latest summer spectacular, Inside Out, is a very good movie, but not among the company’s best. Like previous Pete Docter Pixar films, Inside Out is quite clever and full of heart. It’s a simultaneously cute and heady story of what goes on inside a young girl’s head as she deals with stress of moving from suburban Minnesota to San Francisco. Moviegoers get to watch anthropomorphic versions of the girl’s emotions — Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Anger, and Fear — working together in her head. Naturally, things get fouled up, the emotions go through struggles, and everyone reaches a new understanding during the denouement.
First off, I’m going to admit that I probably enjoyed the movie more than many people will, simply because I’m a huge Pete Docter fan. I loved his work in Monsters Inc. and Up. Docter co-wrote and co-directed Inside Out. Secondly, I’m rooting for the movie to do well because Ronaldo Del Carmen is the other co-director; I have to support the work of my fellow Filipino-Americans. Thirdly, since the movie takes place in San Francisco, some of the scenes touched a place in my heart, bringing up fond memories of a city I lived in for many years. With all of that in mind, Inside Out is at the top of Pixar’s second echelon of movies for me. However, I completely understand anyone that rates it as middle of the pack.
Like most good Pixar movies, Inside Out is enjoyable for children and adults. It has plenty of visual gags and slapstick humor for youngsters, but also has several smartly written scenes. After the screening, my friend Paul said that this is one of the smartest Pixar movies to date and I totally agree. Emotions can be complex and intricate, and Inside Out had lots of fun playing with how human brains function. From cherished childhood memories to jingles that get stuck in your head, Inside Out handles the brain in a very clever way.
In a recent Google Hangout, a few of you RPadholics said that Inside Out was Pixar’s version of Herman’s Head. While several of the concepts are similar, the Pixar movie is much smarter and emotionally deeper than the Fox sitcom. Frankly, comparing Inside Out to Herman’s Head is more than a little bit insulting to Pixar. I mean…it’s Fox.
Anyway, the main conflict of the movie has Joy and Sadness getting separated from the other emotions. The pair go on a journey through other parts of the girl’s head, desperately trying to get back to headquarters so that they can restore emotional balance. The main problem I had with Inside Out is that the journey seems too long. There isn’t a single part of the quest that I disliked or would have cut entirely, but the whole thing could have felt tighter.
The actors and actresses that play the emotions are the best parts of Inside Out. Amy Poehler and Phyllis Smith are perfect as Joy and Sadness, respectively. Mindy Kaling is great as Disgust and Bill Hader is lots of fun as Fear. My favorite was Anger, played by Lewis Black; let’s face it, the guy lives to play angry. An honorable mention goes to Richard Kind as Bing Bong, the girl’s imaginary friend. A forgotten remnant of the girl’s childhood, Bing Bong has a scene that will leave many moviegoers in tears.
The way the various internal characters work with and against each other is a fun take on emotions. While neuroscientists will probably disagree with Pixar’s take on how the human brain functions, it makes for an entertaining plot device. Personally, I believe that emotions are complex chemical reactions that happen in your brain; I don’t believe that there’s anything spiritual or magical about them. However, I’m also a man with borderline ridiculous emotions, so anthropomorphic characters playing around in heads is a plausible (enough) explanation. For some people, the plot device of Inside Out will be a fun exercise in examining the sometimes inexplicable intricacies of emotions.
With a runtime of 94 minutes, Inside Out isn’t very long, but it feels like a loose 94 minutes. The movie is an entertaining and emotional ride, but there are several parts of the film that feel close to going off the rails. Better editing and tighter writing would have made the journey smoother. Nonetheless, Inside Out is a very good Pixar movie that’s shy of being among the greats. Keep in mind that my opinion is in the context of the high bar Pixar has set.
As an added bonus, Inside Out viewers also get to watch the delightfully charming and exquisitely animated “Lava” short movie. As a fan of ukulele-based music, I loved it. It’s a shame that Hawaiian legend Iz passed away. A singing island with a sweet voice was meant to be played by an island of a man with a sweet voice.
If you’ve seen Inside Out, let’s compare notes (please!). Kindly share your thoughts on Pixar’s latest movie in the comments section. For another take on the movie, be sure to check out this fine review on PaulSemel.com.
I saw the movie last weekend and, yes, it is completely different from “Herman’s Head” to the point that it’s almost insulting to compare the two. However, when I mentioned the sitcom, I was only bringing it up as point of reference as a concept that I could relate to. The whole “voices-in-your-head-as-people-that-represent-different-emotions” is an uncommon category, but one that I have seen before and Herman’s Head was my point of reference.
That said. I enjoyed your take on the movie. I am also glad you mentioned that Pete Docter had a hand in this movie and Up because Up was the first movie that came into my head after watching this one.
The way I see it, Up is to guys as Inside Out is to girls. They are basically movies that are on opposite side of the same coin. Where Up focused on the adventure as a conduit for the plot, Inside out focused on the emotional mind (the women’s version of “adventure”) as a conduit for the plot.
So, I enthusiastically recommended this movie to girls from ages 7 to 45. To a lesser extent, I modestly recommend this movie to guys to help them understand why women get emotionally unhinged sometimes. The movie handled it in a way that is so clever, that I’m starting to think that it should be in the “documentary” category.
I did enjoy the movie (especially the dad part), but I have a feeling I would have liked it better if I was a girl.
I didn’t have any issues with the length, but I did feel that the plot of Joy and Sadness trying to get back into the control room was a little drawn out and dipped it’s toe in the “traditional adventure” category that didn’t really gel with the overall vibe of “girl’s emotional issues.” Still, I understand why they did it. They had to do something to get Joy and Sadness to bond. It just seems that the only way Pixar knows how to do that is by sending the people that need to bond out on an “adventure” instead of a less conventional way which is what I think this movie called for.
The only casting change I would have made is replacing Amy Poehler with Ellen Degeneres. Every time Joy opened her mouth, I kept thinking of Ellen. It’s a minor quibble. Amy did a good job with the character, but I just think Ellen would have been a more natural choice. Phyllis Smith and Lewis Black were perfectly cast.
And, yes, Lava was cute. It threw me off because I wasn’t expecting a short before the movie. It’s amazing how they can tell emotional stories in the span of five minutes or so.
-M
P.S. I don’t know why, but I laughed way too much at the brief scene at the end with the cat.