Inside Out 2 Review: Will New Emotions Make Another Emotional Adventure?
Copyright © Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios
Title: Inside Out 2
Director: Kelsey Mann
Sequel to: Inside Out (2015)
Release Date: June 14, 2024
Yeah, everyone was aware that Disney bombed with Wish last year, and that did not end up well. To add salt to the wound, this was supposed to be their centennial celebration: their 100th year anniversary of leading the animated movie revolution! For this year, do you think they have a second chance on making things right? Let's find out with Inside Out 2, their latest animated movie done with the help of Pixar, for the third out-of-theater movie review! Similarly to the predecessor, the film was a major success in the box office and reception. Currently, it is grossing with $295 million worldwide, marking it at #8 of the highest grossing films of this year. Additionally, it received positive reviews from critics, as well as audiences alike. According to Rotten Tomatoes, it has a critic score of 92% and an astounding audience score of 96%. From the other movie review sites, the IMDb score is an 8.0/10, and the Metacritic scores are 74 (critic reviews) and 7.6 (user reviews). Popular opinion: Inside Out 2 is an amazing emotional Part 2 to the titular franchise, as it restores Disney's magic.
Summary
Events after the first film, Riley (Kensington Tallman) turns 13 and has to face the realities of high school. Inside her mind, the emotions, Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Tony Hale), Disgust (Liza Lapira), and Anger (Lewis Black), have to face new emotions coming into the Headquarters. One of the emotions of the new bunch is Anxiety (Maya Hawke) which makes them unsure about how they feel.
Reasons
Inside Out 2's most important beliefs are the improved lore and world building, amazing characters, another deep (and relatable) message. Starting off, the first film had one of the most creative lore by turning an unrelated concept into its own fantastical world. Since Riley is entering puberty, the lore just expands and also gets better. It has its own imagining of the personality as well as how teens would suppress something. Her character arc is extremely interesting as it also makes a more understandable story about puberty than what Turning Red did. In addition, there are new emotions added to introduce how puberty works to let kids know what it is to be like as a teen. Speaking of emotions, all of the characters, new and old, are entertaining and likable. The returning emotions, like Joy, are likable as they are trying to get used to how Riley is changing. On the other hand, the new emotions are amazing as well. Anxiety is a fun character that has a unique character design, which does mirror how tasks run up to you like crawling bugs. Well, all of the new emotions' designs are fitting for what emotion they represent, like how Envy is short because it shows the inferiority of someone compared to the better-looking person. Before moving on to the secondary beliefs, the message is not only deep but also relatable. The movie tells us that every emotion makes someone's identity. There are many people of different personalities, not just of the same person all over and over again. Another thing that the movie was deep about is that you do not have to put a lot of pressure on yourself. This means that we do not have to rush on making ourselves perfect and all done with tasks in order to achieve life.
Going even further, Inside Out 2 also believes in the witty humor, a very enjoyable follow-up story, and beautiful animation. To begin with, Pixar does it again where they are being funny about the theme to surprisingly perform it well. Most of the jokes works with Riley's realities of being a teen in the most lighthearted way possible. What this means is that these jokes are used in the emotions' adventures of getting her to accept being a teen. Moving on, having Riley grow up in the sequel would be a good idea to start off with when making a sequel for Inside Out. Again, it introduces puberty to kids in order to see what they would be like if they turn 13. Unlike Turning Red, it uses the theme in a kid-friendly way by incorporating it into an adventure. Also, the character arcs have smooth development to make you believe in them. These are done by twists that are not that predictable at all, so that means they can surprise the audience, to wrap up with a heartwarming ending after all. Finally, if you look at the first film, the animation is already impressive. Since it is the 2020s now, Pixar cranks it up to an eleven to make the sequel look more beautiful than that of its predecessor. The movie has more detail and color to appeal to the whole family unlike how Wish animated their movie. It is nice to see that Pixar is slowly improving with animating!
It looks like it is also perfect but Inside Out 2 can have a little bit of a problem or two. To put, the first movie did end on a solid note without any predictions on what is to come next. A sequel would have been unnecessary but this is given an exception for its magnificent writing and execution. As one additional improvement, some of the characters like Ennui and Envy, can be fleshed out more by giving them more development. However, they are just good as they are. For their cases, it is because they are supporting characters of the movie.
Conclusion
To close off this Sense of Self about it, Inside Out 2 is a Part 2 that is also as amazing and emotional as its predecessor, for how it brings back the magic Disney used to harbor! Its creative lore and world building has just gotten better as it expands when it uses puberty as its story theme, as well as adding new characters that are fun and likable. In the movie, it lies a deep message that tells us that all emotions makes our personality, along with a submessage about not having to feel too pressured or anxious about being the top of the bunch. Pixar does it again with writing the humor expertly by joking about the problems in a lighthearted way. While a sequel may not have been needed in the first place, this is given a pass for how it tells about Riley growing up into her teen years, with the emotions working inside of her head. As the final touch, the first movie looked perfect as it is but Pixar decided to level the animation up by using more detail and color! Please please please go see Inside Out 2 at your local movie theater! Go blame this review if you had big feelings about what Pixar created!
Comments
Post a Comment