After almost 10 years, this summer, Pixar studios released the sequel to “Inside Out”, appropriately named “Inside Out 2.” The coming-of-age movie features the main character, Riley, navigating her way through friendships and her sense of self. Instead of fixating on relationships or body image, “Inside Out 2” focuses on individuality, which is what makes the movie so riveting.
In the first movie, Riley was 11 years old, and in the second movie, she’s 13 years old. Since Riley has matured more since the first movie, there has been a change of characters in the story. Anxiety, Embarrassment, Envy, and Boredom are some of the new additions in the “Inside Out” cast. In contrast, “Inside Out” highlighted only Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear. This change represents the actuality of growing up and how our emotions change as we develop.
The main plot of “Inside Out 2” is centered on Riley’s hockey camp, which occurs before the beginning of high school. Whereas, in “Inside Out 1”, the movie is about Riley moving away from home. The overall conflict of the new movie is Anxiety taking over Riley. As stated by Animation Scoop, when “Inside Out 2” director Kelsey Mann was asked why he wanted to add anxiety as a character, Mann said,
“I’m making a movie about anxiety for a reason. It’s because we all have it, and we all have it at different levels. Sometimes that thought can do a lot of good, and it’s one of the reasons why I’m here directing this movie.”
The main source of Riley’s anxiety is her struggle of fitting in with the girls in her hockey camp, and adjusting to the news of her friends going to a different High School. These two factors leave Riley in disarray, and soon enough, our new emotions enter the picture.
I found it surprising that a sequel was even a possibility, as the wait was exceptionally lengthy. According to UNILAD, the creators of “Inside Out 2” waited for the viewers to grow up before they released a sequel. I was only 6 years old when the first movie came out, so I didn’t understand it at all, but now I find myself relating to the story. I’m sure others feel the same way.
“Inside Out 2” has a well-deserved 4 star rating on Common Sense Media. Overall, it was an enjoyable sequel. The reality of the storyline is what makes it so entertaining, since the movie picks out circumstances that viewers may relate to or experience. It also appeals to many human emotions, such as sadness, angst, happiness, and worry.
The creator’s did a good job with interesting their teenage target audience by exemplifying the bittersweet and raw factors of the teenage experience throughout the movie. The movie’s dialogue was simplistic and fun, the animation was beautiful, and the ending was indeed satisfactory. All in all, Pixar came out with the perfect, thrilling sequel for the popular Inside Out. For people who are interested in how the story evolves, the movie will soon be on Disney +.
Photo courtesy of IMDb.
