Review: Inside Out 2

Image courtesy of Pixar.

 

Pixar Studios' output in recent years in the past decade have included the occasional classic - "Inside Out" and the underrated "Soul" - but on the whole it has been churning out decent original content and a lot of sequels, a majority of which are good enough but not exactly necessary.

The same could probably be said for "Inside Out 2," a likable follow up to the 2015 film that probably wasn't an urgent addition to the Pixar canon, but is good natured and mostly a very good time.

The movie picks up where the original left off, finding Riley (Kensington Tallman) entering her early teens and, as a result, finding some new emotions taking over. These new emotions include the spastic Anxiety (Maya Hawke), the shy Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), the needy Envy (Ayo Edebiri), and the aloof French Ennui (Adele Exarchopoulos). There's also a brief - and amusing joke - involving the character of Nostalgia.

These new entities cause the old crew - especially Joy (Amy Poehler) - no end of consternation, especially after Anxiety takes over, kicking Joy and her pals - Anger (Lewis Black), the wonderfully mopey Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Disgust (Liza Lapira), and Fear (Tony Hale) - out of the control room.

They are briefly imprisoned, but freed by a video game character (too complicated to explain) once beloved by Riley in a running gag that got some of the biggest laughs from me. From there, Joy comes up with the idea to find the back of Riley's mind, where they can collect an orb that is the embodiment of who she is as a person that was shot out into the stratosphere by Anxiety when she took over.

On the way, they travel down the Stream of Consciousness and encounter a teenage Sar-chasm that they must cross. Yes, those jokes sound silly but made me smile regardless. The element that makes the film magical is Pixar's expressive animation, as usual, as well as the wonderful work by the voice actors - especially Smith, Poehler, and Hawke.

The film also taps into real-life scenarios with the amount of humor and pathos you'd expect from a Pixar film. As Riley navigates her teenage years, she finds herself becoming less the person she wants to be - snubbing some old friends while trying to become friends with some popular older girls on the high school hockey for which she's trying out.

So, while I'd prefer to see Pixar stretching itself creatively and coming up with something new, "Inside Out 2" is one of the more entertaining and likable of its legacy sequels. It helps that the characters are so well drawn - both figuratively and literally - and that the concept provides numerous opportunities for imaginative flourishes.

So far, this is the biggest hit of the summer (at least, at the box office) - and it's not hard to see why. This is a fun movie that's wacky enough for children to enjoy, but also smart enough - in typical Pixar style - to also appeal to adults.