We are going to take a wild guess that when you first heard the news that 2015’s Oscar-winning “Inside Out” was getting a follow up you immediately thought, “Oh, no. Not a sequel to a beloved animated movie. This can’t be good.” Well, if it’s from Pixar, three “Toy Story” sequels, “Finding Dory,” and “Incredibles 2” are pretty strong evidence that it might not just be good, but potentially even better than the original. And, in many ways, “Inside Out 2,” the feature directorial debut of Kelsey Mann, is an even more nuanced examination of human emotion than its predecessor.
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When we last left Riley (voiced by Kensington Tallman), she was a 12-year-old girl whose two primary emotions, Joy (Amy Poehler) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith), had finally come together to give her some semblance of peace. The move from Minnesota to San Francisco with Mom (Diane Lane) and Dad (Kyle MacLachlan) had been rocky, but the experience had helped shape her core memories, representing a new evolution in her personality. As she had grown, her emotions, including Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale replacing Bill Hader), and Disgust (Liza Lapira stepping in for Mindy Kaling), had fallen into a rhythm with one another. But while Riley was having fun playing hockey, a big red warning light labeled “puberty” appeared on the corner of her mind console. Despite the other emotions’ concern, Joy didn’t think it was that important. As we are well aware, Joy can be very wrong.
“Inside Out 2” opens up a year later with Riley, now 13, once again in her happy place, a hockey rink. As Joy mans the console, Anger, Fear, and Disgust all chip in when necessary, but there is little conflict between them. As expected, Riley’s NoCal life has gotten significantly better. Specifically, she now has two best friends who are also on her team, Bree (Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green) and Grace (Grace Lu). It’s summer, and the trio are excited about a weekend summer camp where they will get to scrimmage with older high school players and show their skills in front of Coach Roberts (Yvette Nicole Brown), whose roster decisions can affect their amateur hockey careers.
That status quo is good, and Joy is particularly proud of how Riley’s core memories have formed her personality. She’s spent years sending the bad ones to the back of her head and Riley’s heart now beams with the mantra of “I’m a good person.” Ah, remember how wonderful kids can be before they hit those tween years?
The night before Riley heads to camp, the emotions are awakened by an annoying alarm going off. Much to their surprise, puberty has arrived, and while Joy chucks the warning light to the back of Riley’s head with the growing mountain of “bad” memories, there is no stopping it. Workers start smashing up headquarters leaving it looking like a disaster area (everyone’s a mess during puberty, get it?). Almost instantaneously, a new bigger console is installed and with it, new “more complex” emotions arrive. Except no one warned Joy, Anger, Fear, Sadness, and Disgust they’d be getting new roommates.
Before Joy can comprehend what is happening, the initially adorable Anxiety (Maya Hawke unexpectedly sounding like Emma Stone) begins to implement her plan to control the console and, in so doing, Riley. Envy (Ayo Edebiri), perhaps the most self-explanatory of the new emotions (and with the least to do at this age), is next, while the wonderfully animated Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser with maybe two lines total) is quietly on hand to do Anxiety’s dirty work. Bored out of their minds and stuck on a smartphone is Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos, pitch-perfect), the too-cool-for-school emotion that will eventually introduce Riley to the magic of sarcasm (a reaction ingeniously conceptualized by animators in Riley’s brain). Also popping up about a decade too early is Nostalgia (June Squibb) which quickly retreats to wherever these emotions are hidden until needed (something to look forward to in the inevitable “Inside Out 3”).
When Anxiety realizes that Riley’s entire future somehow hinges on making the High School hockey team, she decides that the old emotions, and especially Joy, are an obstacle to making that happen. Anxiety needs to help Riley form new core emotions to prepare for her future. She grabs the embodiment of Riley’s current personality and sends it in the tube to the back of her head. When Joy and the original team try to stop Anxiety, Embarrassment throws them in a bottle (yes, literally bottles them up), and the mind police mindlessly toss them in the vault where Riley keeps her deep dark secrets (oh, and there’s a big one in there).
As Anxiety begins to alienate Riley from her friends and direct her toward some very questionable decisions, Joy and the old emotions begin their mission. They need to escape from the vault, grab the barely pulsing “good embodiment” of Riley, and return it to headquarters. And somehow pull this off before Anxiety can implement a new version of Riley that will lose the, um, joy and innocence of her younger self.
Written by Meg LeFauvre and Dave Holstein, “Inside Out 2” certainly has its comedic moments (thank you, Ennui), but we’d be remiss not to recognize it’s decidedly less funny than the original. And maybe that’s O.K.? Riley may be just 13 years old, but the emotions – both new and old – that are battling it out in her brain are decidedly mature ones. And it will take more than 96 minutes to work them out, if at all. Under Mann’s direction, the filmmakers have crafted a tale that subtly captures the loss of childhood innocence as a person transitions into their teenage years. It’s hard and, conceptually, as many parents are aware, it’s sometimes sad. And that young adult needs to experience these tougher and more complex emotions to help shape them into who they will be years down the road. Life experiences are not limited to just happiness, sadness, anger, and fear. The first movie touched on that, but this second chapter takes an even more sophisticated perspective of that inevitable journey.
What’s often most striking about “Inside Out 2,” however, is how the arguments and conflicts between these emotions often feel as though they are speaking directly to the adults in the audience. Sure, kids will enjoy and relate to Riley’s predicament, but it’s how the emotions cope with her battle of wills that will affect everyone else. There is one triumphant scene towards the end of the film when Anxiety simply loses control. Despite what you may initially assume, the emotion is not a villain; none of them are. It believes its purpose is to protect Riley’s future. When Anxiety overextends itself, it simply cannot stop. Like many people with anxiety issues, it wants to stop. It wants to slow down, and it can’t. This results in an example of utterly sublime character animation that is simply heartbreaking.
Mann and his team of talented animators also introduce a cadre of other entertaining and cleverly conceived newcomers, including Bloofy (Ron Funches), a two-dimensional animated kids’ show character that breaks the fourth wall, and Lance Slashblade (Yong Yea), a “Final Fantasy” inspired video game character with a deeply unfortunate battle move. Also, after it was teased the first movie, Mann dives into the emotional consoles of many of the adult character’s brains with often hilarious results. Alright, in hindsight, maybe the movie is funnier than I gave it credit for. It certainly will result in a tear or two. [B+]
“Inside Out 2” opens nationwide on Friday.