Pixar’s Inside Out marks the first entry in our new weekly streaming review series. A little info on the series before we dive into it. As the name suggests, we’ll be choosing one movie to review each week from one of the many streaming services.
Ideally, each week’s movie won’t be chosen at random (though sometimes it will be). It may have some relevance to the upcoming weekend’s releases. Or the film might have a release date anniversary. Or it might relate to a holiday or other current events. Whatever the reasoning, it should be a fun way to reflect on past movies.
Note: While they won’t contain spoilers every time, they are liable to contain heavy spoilers
With Onward coming out this weekend, it only seems appropriate to look back at one of Pixar’s many classics. And with the early buzz on Onward being that you should have some tissues at the ready, why not revisit Inside Out, another Pixar tear-jerker.
Inside Out follows 11 year old Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) as she moves with her parents from Minnesota to San Francisco. As for many young children, this could be a hard transition to make, and that’s the story Inside Out tells. Nothing groundbreaking there, to be sure. But it’s how the story is told that pulls you in.
Rather than simply following Riley and her new life in California, the story focuses on the personifications of five her basic emotions: Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), and Anger (Lewis Black).
Together, these five run Riley’s mind’s Headquarters. Each emotion has their own part to play, depending on Riley’s reaction to any given situation. Four of the five work together quite well, but Sadness is left a bit on the outs.
And it’s this direction where Inside Out really starts to set itself apart. The other four emotions don’t understand Sadness, why she’s there, what her purpose is. So rather than making the effort to understand, they try to isolate her. And when Sadness starts touching some of Riley’s happy memories, making them turn sad, they only increase Sadness’s isolation.
It’s a fantastic – not to mention creative – way to illustrate to kids how so many of us deal with our conflicting feelings and emotions. But more importantly, it shows kids that it’s okay to be sad. It’s okay to be angry, or upset, or confused.
And while it’s incredibly important for kids to understand this, Inside Out serves as a good reminder to adults as well. We’re unfortunately still in a state where mental health issues carry an unfair stigma. Being sad or depressed doesn’t make you weak, it doesn’t mean something is wrong with you; it makes you human.
But Inside Out is more than just a glorified PSA. It’s a great movie. While its central message makes it an important and touching movie, it still has all the other hallmarks of a quintessential Pixar film. The animation, the voice work, the humor, the score, it’s all there. It’s a total home run; or, just another day at the office for Pixar.