Director: Pete Docter
By Alex Watson
Once again Pixar has shown its power in the animated world and its new effort Inside Out imaginative and heartfelt effort. Focusing on the birth of human conscience, Docter is able to make our minds tick throughout and in someways even question ourselves. Even to this day, Pixar are still able to amaze us with their detail in their animation. This film is yet another firm step forward for them and it is thanks to a story that relates so well to the audience and makes us think about just how much motions define our personality?
Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) is an 11 year old girl who has recently moved with her mum and dad from Minnesota to San Francisco. Watching over her since birth have been her emotions Joy (Amy Poehler), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith). Together they have made Riley into a vibrant and buoyant young girl. But when Riley begins to descend into unhappiness, Joy and Sadness by complete accident find themselves thrown out of the control room! With two core emotions missing, the young girls life could soon be problematic.
The greatest part about Inside Out, is viewing the scenes going on inside the control rooms. The emotions themselves make up more than just feelings, they contribute to here personality. For her personality, each different aspect has a different island or land. It's almost like a more zany version of Little Big Planet! But Sadness is the only emotion struggling to fit in and against Joy's ever so slightly possessive attitude, she may just deprive Riley of being able to grow up. The move to San Francisco has left the young girl with an increasing sadness that it isn't fully clear to her mother (Diane Lane) and father (Kyle McLachlan).
When both Joy and Sadness are literally sucked into a brand new world, Riley is now facing a something problematic. Her core memories are stocked away in glowing balls which have also disappeared. Now without her happy memories, the girl faces a disaster of epic proportions as now she cannot function normally! Docter shows these scenes to almost like some kind of never ending nightmare and her once childlike innocence is now dissolving into some kind of surly pre-teen attitude. But amongst the visuals, there is some important symbolism to be found. The emotions displayed are ones that mirror humans themselves. Through these, we find key elements of ourselves reflected and with Riley, she may need sadness more than she realizes to become herself again.
Having a blank canvas at his disposal, Docter has great fun creating new and wacky ideas for the world outside the control room. We are introduced to such places as abstract thought, subconscious, dream productions (watch for the continuously funny gum commercial) and the Train of Thought. All these ideas spark a wonderfully funny and unconventional ride for Pixar fans. But it is the simpler moments in Inside Out that are the most effective. One magical scene sees Joy re-playing an old memory of Riley ice skating to cheer her up, alongside this footage she skates as well. It is a moment of pure Pixar happiness which reminds us of just what they are capable of bringing.
In the voice department, Amy Poehler makes for a fine lead as Joy. Through her, this emotions enthusiasm for the job along with her bossiness is well portrayed. One of the better comedic actress today, Poehler is able to bring across a great sense of humour but also finds the warmth at key moments. But Phyllis Smith is the one who steals the vocal honors and makes great use of her typically downbeat voice as Sadness. There is more to her performance than just sounding morbid and Smith encapsulates this emotions lack of purpose and confusion.
Pixar is once again back in fine form and Inside Out is more than likely going to be the animated adventure of 2015. When you exit the movie theatre, think of the emotions that sit inside of you and wonder what they may look like?
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