Inside Out 2's star character Riley’s emotional control centre has a red alert when a pimple and puberty arrive. Photo / Supplied
Inside Out 2's star character Riley’s emotional control centre has a red alert when a pimple and puberty arrive. Photo / Supplied
In 2016, the startlingly original Inside Out won the Best Animated Feature Oscar for bringing to life the emotions of an 11-year-old kid. It thrilled children and adults alike with its universally relatable tale of Riley, a happy ice hockey-playing tween from the American Midwest who felt devastated when herfamily shifted to San Francisco.
The Pixar film dealt with Riley’s emotions by making them characters inside her head and adding some brilliant concepts, too, like a literal Train of Thought, and the notion that if sadness touches one of Riley’s stored memories, they would be forever tarnished.
In this gorgeously clever, laugh-out-loud sequel, we’re back in the realm of Riley’s youthful emotions as she heads for adolescence. Amy Poehler and Lewis Black reprise their roles as Joy and Anger, The Office’s Phyllis Smith returns as Sadness and some new voices provide fresh emotions.
Life in San Fran has been going just fine, until, one morning, Riley’s emotional control centre has a red alert with the arrival of a pimple and puberty. Chaos ensues with the unwelcome introduction of four new, age-appropriate feelings: the hyperactive Anxiety, covetous Envy (voiced by TheBear’s Ayo Edebiri), Embarrassment, with hoodie pulled low over his eyes, and the pièce de résistance Ennui (a French-accented, eye-rolling Emo voiced with spot-on disdain by Adèle Exarchopoulos).
Once again, there’s a relatable scenario for Riley to navigate as she develops her sense of self: when she’s invited to attend an ice hockey camp which could launch her future in the sport, she must choose between loyalty to her childhood friends and a chance to hang with the cool kids.
Now she’s 13, Riley is forming beliefs, figuring out her values, and trying to ignore suppressed memories, all psychological fodder for scene after scene of hilarity and insight.
The first film was rated G, but Inside Out 2 is PG, so although it’s still okay for the kids, it’s probably more enlightening and resonant for tweenagers. (Note to parents: try not to nudge yours at pointed moments.)
But while some of IO2′s deeper ideas are complex, astute and quite wonderful, it’ll probably be us post-post-adolescents laughing the hardest.
