Inside
Out
It’s brilliant.
Amy Poehler provides the voice of Joy – the emotion of the
same name that lives in the head of an 11-year old girl, Riley (Kaitlyn
Dias). Joy and the other emotions – Sadness (Phyllis Smith),
Fear (Bill Hader), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Anger (Lewis Black)
– live inside Headquarters where each one rules
Riley’s life at various times, while memories are collected
and stored. As you can imagine, Joy has been in charge the most over
the first 11 years, but all of that is about to change.
Riley’s family is up and moving from their idyllic paradise
in Minnesota to live in San Francisco. While that is enough to confuse
our young girl, life gets even harder when Joy and Sadness are
accidentally sucked into Long Term Memory. As those two try to make it
back to headquarters, Fear, Disgust and Anger are driving Riley to do
something she will regret.
Inside
Out is about as close to perfect
as any movie can get. You will even forgive Disney for Tomorrowland
after seeing this one.
It starts with the acting. Every voice performer is just what the
doctor ordered for his or her role.
While it is a given Black would be the quintessential embodiment of
Anger, he still surprises by delivering hilarious rage and a certain
excitement for Anger’s role in the spectrum of emotions.
Plus, the visual animation of his character and the changes he goes
through while blowing his top will have you cheering and laughing for
days after you watch Inside Out. It’s the best explosion
of
anger you have seen since The Hulk started to turn green.
Poehler wonderfully imbues Joy with the kind of spritely, pixyish
spirit needed to make her everyone’s favorite character, and
makes Joy a heroic figure with the best of intentions, while Hader and
Kaling find a few moments to stand out even though they are supporting
players in this tale.
However, it is Smith who is so amazing you can’t imagine any
other actor tackling the role. You will recognize her as Phyllis from
The Office, but her cadence and vocal tone
combined with the animation
makes Sadness the sneaky underdog you are rooting for in this movie.
Watching her mood swings are reminiscent of being a mother or father to
a teen girl, and feeling her desire to do good for Riley warms your
heart, even as she might be making everything worse. Haven’t
we all been there?
The animation is the best in movies today, while director/writer Pete
Doctor and his co-writers Meg LeFauve and Josh Cooley pave the way for
all of it to be more than eye candy. Inside
Out is not a special effects
extravaganza like Jurassic World,
but it creates its own special world with vivid locations and
characters who come to life.
Inside Out
is wildly imaginative as we go through the brain with visits to Long
Term Memory, Imagination Land, the Subconscious and more. Kids will
giggle at the silly adventures Sadness and Joy find themselves
embroiled in, while adults can be amazed at the creativity needed to
bring these places to life with an uncanny accuracy about that function
of the brain and the characteristics the place has.
While everyone always asks me if there are jokes for the adults to
appreciate, Inside Out
will appeal to adults with its bigger themes about the complexity of
emotions, the legendary heroic act of a character that will have you
weeping, or the familiarity of watching the changes a family and a
person goes through as we age. It’s all there without any
preaching or need to smack you over the head with it. The brilliant
writing and directing makes it all apparent and obvious.
I can’t wait to see Inside
Out again.
Inside
Out is rated PG for mild thematic
elements and some action.
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