Inside Out 2 Review

 

Inside Out 2 is an animated coming-of-age movie and the sequel to 2015's Inside Out. It's produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Inside Out 2 is written by Kelsey Mann, Meg LeFauve, and Dave Holstein and directed by Kelsey Mann.

The story is, it's been one year since the events of the last movie, and Riley is now gonna start high school. Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear think it'll be anything day on the job. But then they're given a curve ball when four new emotions show up.

Initial Reaction

Now while the movie was on my most anticipated list, I was still very skeptical. Mainly because only one of the initial writers came back, so with this new crew I was hoping for the best they do well, but not hold my breath too much. Then there's the fact the first is a masterpiece, and that's not a word a use loosely folks.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

There are two things that while still good in their own right, could've been better. One of those being the characters. Our usual emotions of Joy and co. are still pretty good and I liked how they all came together to prop each other up. The new emotions aren't bad by any means, but they didn't really do much. Anxiety had a really good story, the others not so much. I know Embarrassment gave Sadness a helping hand, but I'm drawing a blank on Ennui and Envy. Then there's the story. There's still a good message, and people can relate to the stress of being thirteen with puberty, starting high school, and trying to fit in. You can relate to that whether you're looking back at those days or you're an actual thirteen year old. The slight issue stems from a repeat. We've already saw Joy get kicked out of HQ and then having to find the way back. The only differences was some locations and instead of one emotion being with her [Joy], it was the rest of the gang.

Pros

Since it's a Pixar film, naturally the animation is great. You'll really appreciate the hard work that was put into it, even if you're not the biggest fan of the final product. And much like the first, the humor was good as well. Not all of it worked for me like it did for the first, but I still had a good time. Especially from my boy Anger, he was once again hilarious. The last thing I'll touch on is the cast, mainly the new members. The cast for the newer emotions were really great and they gave good performances. I especially give credit to Maya Hawke as Anxiety, she was spectacular. There was also some recasting as well, one example being Tony Hale being the voice of Fear instead of Bill Hader. But recast like that was barely noticeable, sure maybe there'll be a slip or two, but nothing too damaging. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if people forget those slip ups after the movie was over.

While the movie is flawed, I'm thankfully it's much better than what I was expecting. So if you wanna give it a watch, I say go for it.

My final rating is, Good.

Okay, I'm all done here. Come back on Monday, Jun 17th, for my Underrated Films review of, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.