I had heard good things about this film, most other critics having it in their top 10 films of the year but I had my doubts on the fact that Pixar films, in my opinion, had lost their way of late, Cars was probably their poorest in a while and since then they appear to have played safe with sequels, Cars 2 and Monsters University.
I am however pleased to report that Inside Out is a glorious return to form alongside their other great works such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo and Up (whose director returns for this film) to name but 3
The film is about the emotions of a young girl named Riley. Those emotions are Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler) Sad (Phyllis Smith) Fear (Bill Hader) Anger (Lewis Black) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling)
The emotions are now called into work even harder, as Riley is moving home, so a lot of upheaval in her life ranging from excitement to new home to sadness that leaving friends behind etc.
When Riley is asked to talk to her new classmates, Sad causes her to cry as she gets upset, remembering her previous school, friends etc and Joy desperately tries to stop this becoming a core memory, during their struggle they are sucked into memories, which is disastrous as all her core memories will slowly vanish, such as memories of friends, family and fun.
We follow the desperate attempts of Joy and Sad to get back to Riley leaving Fear, Disgust and most concerning Anger in charge. Anger, taking control, alienates Riley from her parents, to the extent in blaming them for her current situation, he plans for Riley to run away.
Joy and Sad come across numerous fun situations involving past memories, in particular, meeting Bing Bong (Richard Kind) Riley’s Imaginary friend from her younger years.
Will they get back to Riley, or will she have to struggle with no joy or sadness again in life, just anger, fear and disgust?
The film cleverly shows why we need the full range of emotions to operate properly, as well as engaging both the younger audience and the adults who will be watching with them as well as being a great film for those without children.
Amy is outstanding as Joy, playing it very much like her beloved Lesley Knope from her TV show Parks and Recreation, but is matched by Phyllis as Sad (who you may know for playing Phyllis in TV’s The Office)
Of the other emotions, Anger gets the best lines but fear and disgust do great jobs too
This is a great entertaining film but also clever as well, cementing Pixar’s place in filmmaking as brilliant storytellers and is a great return to form.
This film deserves the plaudits it has got and is surely a contender for the 2016 best-animated feature in our opinion, do you agree or did you see a better film last year, we’d love to hear from you!
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