Finally, Pixar has
made a movie that teaches kids to listen to the voices in their head. However,
jokes aside, Pixar’s new movie Inside Out teaches kids, and adults, a whole lot
more than that.
So much like an
animated version of ‘Herman’s Head’, the film takes place almost entirely in
the head of a young girl called Riley, who is struggling with moving to a new
city and adjusting to a new school and friendship groups. To help her adjust to
such big changes are the personifications of many of the emotions we feel on a
daily basis including Anger, Fear, Disgust, Sadness and Joy, who is voiced by
the energetic and endearing Amy Poehler. Things become complicated in young
Riley’s head when Sadness begins messing with her originally positive memories
causing trouble for Joy and the others.
The voice cast
really is fantastic and the character of Joy seems like a role that Poehler was
born to play because if anyone else had played such a character you would most
likely punch them in the face; but Poehler has this amazing ability to keep
that kinetic energy at a level that is infectious without being nauseating.
There’s also great performances from The Office’s Phyllis Smith as Sadness
whose energy is the polar-opposite to Joys. We also have the ever irrational
Lewis Black playing Anger and using his trademark deep, gravely voice to spew
some great lines, plus we have Riley’s former imaginary friend Bing Bong,
played by comedic actor Richard Kind who has some of the best emotional moments
in the film.
Amidst all of this
is one of the great supporting players in the movie that helps these characters
really flourish: Riley’s mind. Pixar have been so inventive at creating a world
inside the mind that takes on both literal and figurative meanings. There is a
literal thought-train that travels through the mind, whilst dreams are
organised by scriptwriters and produced in a studio, the subconscious can be a
deep, dark cavern that house some pretty creepy clowns and long term memories
are stored in a massive labyrinth library that will occasionally shoot back
something long forgotten to the forefront of your mind.
For a film about
complex feelings that is aimed at kids it really does hit a lot of marks and
most admirably, teaches both kids and adults alike important lessons like it is OK to cry in order to feel better. Some of the concepts may go over young
children’s heads but the beauty of it is that when they are older they will be
able to appreciate the lessons on a whole new level. To be honest, that’s what
makes Inside Out such a great achievement and you can completely understand why
it is receiving so much praise once you’ve seen it: it really is for everybody.
Young children can watch this and learn how to deal with their emotions,
teenagers can watch this and reflect on what they are going through, adults can
watch and relate to their childhood, but especially for me, as a first time
parent, you discover new ways to educate your child on how to handle their
feelings.
This movie will
make you shed a tear more than once because for all the fun that you’re having,
it still knows how to bring you back to reality by, as an adult, reminding you
of your own childhood and remembering the importance and power of a hug. It is
a coming of age story in many ways, but this is presented through the visuals
of so many of life’s important pillars such as family, friendship, honesty and
playfulness and it shows us how these can be shaken to their very core when
facing tough life decisions.
Now this may sound
dark, but thankfully it’s not because, much like most Pixar movies, the
emotions are handled very well and if you’ve ever wanted to teach your children
about emotions, or want to learn how to control your own emotions, Inside Out
is a great place to start.
Inside Out gets Four and Three Quarter Stars out of Five (or Four
and Three Quarter candy-shaped tears)
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