3.5/5
Review by John P. Harvey.
Riley’s childhood emotions starred in their own movie, Inside Out (2015), in their collective role of fundamentally making Riley’s decisions for her when she was just a few years old. Now, Riley has turned thirteen, and suddenly new emotions are taking their own turns at the console. The resultant comprehensive confusion leaves Riley bewildered and feeling… well… everything, really.
As its predecessor did for the inner world of a small child, Inside Out 2 does a matchless job of conveying through laugh-out-loud comedy the highs and lows, the ecstasies and tragedies, the chaos and occasional clarity of life in the inner world of a teenaged girl. Loyalty and even a touch of sentimentality compete with anxiety and envy, and embarrassment and ennui provide joy with new challenges, and the girl at the mercy of it all is only half conscious of what she’s feeling, because she has pushed so many memories to the back of her mind — and then anxiety leads her to repress her chief emotions too.
Will these new feelings spell the end of Riley’s joy, or will they ultimately enrich her?
The movie may be just a little embarrassing for young teens as Riley’s emotions discuss adolescence amongst themselves, but in its own way it’s a sensitive acknowledgement of the internal difficulties many face as they and their peers undergo the upheavals that adolescence brings. And it’s a huge, brilliantly planned entertainment for adults interested in the construction of minds and emotions. As we’d expect from a Pixar film, it’s also artistically rendered, and its characters — even its least appealing ones — grow on you.
Gosh, now I’m getting all sentimental!