Inside Out (2015): *****

Inside Out is set inside the mind of eleven year old Riley (Kaitlyn Dias where the five emotions, Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Fear (Bill Hader), reside in the Headquarters. They can see everything Riley sees, their reactions influence Riley’s reactions and vice versa, and literally colour Riley’s memories, represented in this world as marble-like orbs. Joy is determined to keep Riley as happy as possible, whilst Anger, Disgust and Fear keep her harming herself. However, they don’t know what Sadness’s purpose is and endeavour to keep her from creating sad memories. After a disruptive event in Riley’s life, her most important core memories – which make up her personality – are sucked away into the memory world, along with Joy and Sadness. Joy and Sadness must return the core memories to Headquarters, to stop Riley from becoming a shell of the happy girl she is.

It is hard to fully describe the world and plot of Inside Out in words, which the film does effortlessly in visual storytelling. The first ten minute sequence establishes how the mind works; a new memory appears frequently to join the growing collection of memories throughout the day, until they are sent below into the long-term memory storage. Where memories are stored in giant snaking columns, mimicking the swirling pattern on a brain, until they start to turn grey, and then thrown into a black abyss called the Memory Dump. This is only a small fraction of the world-building that is established in Inside Out. Riley’s mind is bursting with colour, mostly bright blues, yellows, reds, greens, and purples, reflecting the colour scheme of the main Emotions. The animation style of the Emotion characters is stunning; a combination of fluidity and stretch in their movement, the particle effect of their bodies almost looks like glittery felt. The simplistic yet elegant sequences in Inside Out are often breathtakingly beautiful. One small example is of Joy watching one of Riley’s recalled memories of skating on a projection screen, gliding around and mimicking Riley’s movements. To try to describe the action and scenes that take place would diminish the experience of watching Inside Out, and it wouldn’t give them the justice they deserve.

It is Pixar’s most ambitious, joyous and heart-wrenching film to date. Co-directors Pete Docter, whose previous work includes Monsters, Inc. and Up, and Ronnie del Carmen seems to thrive on emotional truths and there are plenty of those in Inside Out: that eventually our memories fade, the things we hold dear now may be forgotten, and it’s okay to stop pretending that everything is fine. It wouldn’t be surprising if Inside Out becomes a mainstay in the curriculum in schools, a way to teach children the importance of emotions to our mental health. Although, undoubtedly, some of the psychological elements of the film will go over younger viewers’ heads, on the other hand, it will provoke a lot of discussion between parents and their children after watching Inside Out. That said the film has plenty of humour to appeal to both kids and adults, one of Pixar’s many strengths, ranging from slapstick to jokes about déjà vu. Another refreshing aspects of the film was the absence of any real antagonist, the plot is driven by the consequences of the characters’ well-intentioned mistakes.  

The character of Joy had the potential to be immensely grating, as her main desire is to keep Riley as happy as possible, often at the expense of others. However, the choice of Amy Poehler was a perfect casting decision; Poehler brings warmth and sympathy to the role. Phyllis Smith is exemplar as the melancholic Sadness, delivering brilliantly timed gloomy one-liners whilst also offering comfort to the other characters. Lewis Black gives a growling vocal performance as the hot-headed Anger, whilst Mindy Kaling drips with sarcasm as Disgust and Bill Hader provides a lot of laughter as the paranoid Fear. Kaitlyn Dias is compelling and believable as Riley, capturing her unease in her new surroundings with great insight. Richard Kind also gives a spectacular performance as Bing Bong, Riley’s imaginary friend, nailing his character’s tragicomic nature.

Inside Out is animation at its finest and most powerful. It is an essential film to watch, no matter what your age might be, and perhaps will mark a new, invigorating direction for Pixar. Inside Out may be the proof that we are living in one of the most exciting eras for feature animation films.