Set about two years after the first part, “Inside Out 2” continues telling the story of Riley, a girl who is in her transitory stage of development as she struggles through the challenges of high school, fitting into a new friend circle and going through the shifts in her personality.

“Inside Out 2” is wonderful, but at the same time, it has some issues. Now Riley is older, and she is shown to now have more emotions that are shown as their literal embodiments contributing to Riley’s life choices and memory formation.

Boredom, anxiety, embarrassment and envy are kicking out previously established emotions that were joy, sadness, fear, anger and disgust.

In general, it’s impressive how the film managed to balance its large number of characters. Doubling the number of emotions, you still feel like everyone got a decent amount of screen time, and Riley gets more attention.

The dialogue in the movie is interesting because the flow and beat when they speak has a musical element.

The jokes from the first movie were also unappealing, such as an inclusion of “broccoli pizza” in San Francisco pizzerias’ menus.

The second movie had a lot of relatable humor to it, one of the best was an anxiety reference:

“Oh, my gosh! I’m Anxiety! Where can I put my stuff?”

It’s a metaphor, but it is funny because a lot of people can relate to the unexpected burden that comes with this feeling.

The ideas in “Inside Out 2” are more challenging to wrap your brain around. The film has a lot to say about why you shouldn’t let your emotions dictate who you are as a person.

These are relatable and important themes to teach a younger audience. Even adults will find a lot for themselves to think about in this movie. With animated films, it’s rare to expect it to blow your mind with insightful ideas and deeply developed concepts, but it’s about how they communicate these themes that matters.

This movie communicates its themes shockingly well and it was enjoyable to watch.

The disruption of new emotions coming in a wrecking ball on the window was appealing.

The color-tones for the characters, especially Anxiety’s, who is orange which suits her personality because that is an anxiety-inducing color, is a creative touch.

There were other new characters introduced that were well-crafted. Embarrassment, the male character, is very cute and humble, especially his big nose, which he constantly closes on with his hoodie; Boredom is a fun little female who is slow-paced and well-captured; and Envy is a small, green-colored female character who is jealous of everything everyone else has, and she is not afraid to pine over it.

The first part was focused on what it’s like to grow up and let go of your inner-child, and the second one is about being a teen. They captured this perspective in a very authentic way.

It snapped me back to my childhood, but it also made me think about my life currently, which brought a lot of insights about my future plans and dreams.

I highly recommend you watch this returning Pixar creation, especially during finals week. It will help a lot with reducing fear and anxiety, bringing joy back to your headquarters.

Year: 2024

Genre: Family/Comedy

Length: 96 minutes

Rating: 4/5