Movie Monday - Inside Out

Minor SPOILER WARNING just in case; enjoy!

I wasn't really expecting much from Inside Out. I thought it would be mostly just something to see on a Saturday afternoon, but I left pleasantly surprised and emotionally moved. Inside Out is Pixar's latest animated epic that tackles the question of "what's going on inside someone's head." The film follows two story arcs. Eleven-year-old Riley and her family have moved from Minnesota to San Francisco and are adjusting to the drastic changes.

Meanwhile, her lead emotion Joy (Amy Poehler) and other emotions; Anger, Disgust, Fear and Sadness, work from a central computer in her head ("head quarters" to them) to try and keep Riley optimistic about everything that's new around her. That is, until the office outcast, Sadness (Phyllis Smith), creates a sad core memory that can effect Riley's overall personality. Worried about Riley's well being, Joy tries to remove the core causing both her and Sadness to become stranded in the brain's longer term memory leaving the three remaining emotions in charge of Riley's situation.

Pixar Animation Studios

I liked this movie but I feel it may not be for everyone. Pixar did an amazing job creating a fictitious yet believable idea of emotions working at a controller and manipulating a person in their day-to-day. Everything from dreams to short term memory control is thought out and identifiable. The characters are colorful and well acted. Amy Poelher's Joy is outstanding at center stage as the gravitating ball of - well - joy but also pulls off a tear-jerker of a scene when she realizes that there's more to Riley's life than making her obliviously happy. The other Emotion characters are very well-cast, likely because most of the actors made careers projecting these emotions already, just exaggerated to cartoonish levels. Lewis Black was perhaps reeled back in his role as Anger , but anyone who has seen his standup knows why.

Pixar Animation Studios

At the heart of this head story, it is a Pixar film. Yep, be ready to cry in this one. The overall message of the film isn't "what goes on in your brain?" but more "it's okay to occasionally indulge on other feelings." I think it's a fantastic message for both kids and adults. What I like the most about this movie is how easy it would have been to take this idea for a family movie and make it about "how wacky would this get?" instead of about accepting feelings to become a better you.

Don't get me wrong, the film does have its hilarious moments, but doesn't over do it and decided to be more of a smart, engaging, family movie about knowing yourself. If you love Disney, Pixar or any of the cast in the film, you'll love it, you've probably seen it and it's going to be on your movie shelf come the holiday season, but I feel it may be alienating or even pandering to some. As someone one who moved around a bit as a child, it kind of hit close to home; from the difficulty of fitting in and missing old friends to the alienation of a new home or town. There may be a bit of a bias when I say it, but you should see this movie.

Pixar Animation Studios

It's nice to see Pixar do something new other than just rehash and prequel all their films (though I won't turn away Incredibles 2). Inside Out is an overall great film, and my complaints come off as minor nitpicks. Who knows, maybe you learn something about what goes on inside your own head and why you can't get the Mentos theme out of it.