Inside Out 2 Review: Pixar’s Animated Adventure Hits The Right Emotional Notes, But Isn’t As Fun As Its Predecessor

Inside out 2

It is a good thing no one can see you cry in 3D glasses because Inside Out 2 struck an emotional chord with this critic. When an orange-coloured Anxiety (Maya Hawke) was introduced, I was a bit skeptical where director Kelsey Mann would go with this emotion. Why, you ask? Because the entire plot of the film is based on Joy (Amy Poehler) locking horns with Anxiety in order to regain the control of Riley’s mind. It becomes rather convenient, therefore, to label Anxiety as the ‘bad guy’.

Inside Out 2 Overview

I was pleasantly surprised when in the film’s penultimate scene, Anxiety says “Joy, I am sorry. I was trying to protect Riley”. Then, Joy gives anxiety a massage chair and some tea to calm her down. Demonizing anxiety is a mistake not just storytellers but those suffering with this mental illness often make. In reality, anxiety is the part of you which wants to protect you by imagining all possible worst case scenarios.

Inside Out 2 portrays this complex idea with perfection. Anxiety runs a covert operation in “Imagination land” where it asks its minions to conjure the worst possible scenarios to protect Riley from potential ruin. Meanwhile, Joy fills up Riley’s mind with only positive memories, sending all the bad memories to “back of the mind” — therefore suppressing them, leading to a somewhat unstable sense of self.

Inside Out 2 Plot

With Riley entering her teenage years, the older emotions—Joy, Anger (Lewis Black), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Tony Hale) and Disgust (Liza Lapira) are replaced by Anxiety, Boredom (Adèle Exarchopoulos), Envy (Ayo Edibiri) and Embarrassment (Paul Walker Hauser). There’s also Nostalgia (portrayed as a nanny, voiced by June Squibb) who appears randomly, much like the emotion itself, often reminiscing events that happened literally 30 seconds back.

The older emotions are sent to the vault, where Riley’s Deep Dark Secret (Steve Purcell) also lives. Joy tries to regain the control of Riley's mind but is often told “Anxiety would have anticipated that” each time she runs into a roadblock. Anxiety can sometimes feel necessary.

One might feel their anxiety is protecting them but also hurting them in the process, often sabotaging their well-being.

Inside Out 2 Direction And Writing

Much like its predecessor, the biggest win of this sequel is the finesse and ease with which it communicates complex ideas like suppression of painful memories, trauma, a fractured sense of self, using simple emotions. Visually speaking, Riley’s sense of self is essentially blue-coloured threads. These threads are replaced by red ones when Anxiety takes over.

The film shows quite effectively just how important it is to embrace both the red and the blue threads for it is their union that makes one’s sense of self strong.

Towards the end, all the suppressed bad memories in “bad of the mind” come rushing through and enter Riley’s brain, causing a panic attack.

Inside Out 2: Acting Performances

Riley’s belief system is no longer “I am a bad person” or “I am a good person”. It is “I am a selfish person”, “I am a kind person”, “I am a good person” — all negative, positive and ambivalent statements put together make Riley the imperfect mess she is.

What works for Inside Out 2 is that it doesn't celebrate toxic positivity. The emotions are as adorable as ever—especially Anger who finds a new companion in Pouchy (James Austin Johnson). There is also Boofy (Ron Funches), who is a mix of Dora—The Explorer, Mickey Mouse and Courage: The Cowardly Dog. Arguably, Boredom as a disinterested, laidback character is the most intriguing of all emotions, second to Embarrassment—a big guy in a hoodie who wants to hide in a corner.

Inside Out 2: What Works What Doesn’t

What doesn’t work as much in the film is Riley’s high-school journey. Her transformation into an angsty teenage kid who wants to excel at ice hockey and be popular is believable but for some reason, you just aren’t as emotionally invested in the newer characters like Valentina (Lilimar), the senior Ice Hockey champ and Riley’s new friends— Grace (Grace Lu) and Bree (Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green).

While Inside Out 2 has everything one expects from a Pixar film (it is sentimental, thrilling, adventurous), one hopes the film was a little more humorous with some good zingers. The few comic punches offered by the film elevate the screenplay. If you are a survivor of anxiety or any other mental illness, Inside Out 2 will not only help put things in perspective for you but also lead to a cathartic release. It's a much watch.

Inside Out 2 is now playing in theaters.