Review of 'Inside Out 2'

2nd film in the 'Inside Out' series

Following on from the first film Inside Out, Riley (voiced by Kensington Tallman) has entered puberty which ushers in some additional, more complex, emotions: Anxiety (exuberantly voiced by Maya Hawke), Envy (voiced by Ayo Edebiri), Embarrassment (voiced by Paul Walter Hauser), Ennui (nonchalantly voiced by Adèle Exarchopoulos) and Nostalgia (voiced by June Squibb; who only appears once or twice, banished to a cupboard for being too much an “old person's” emotion). When Riley goes to a Hockey Camp she ends up being completely controlled by her new emotions as Anxiety takes over forcing her old emotions Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler), Sadness (voiced by Phyllis Smith), Anger (voiced by Lewis Black), Fear (voiced by Tony Hale) and Disgust (voiced by Liza Lapira) to go in search of her original “sense of self” which has been banished to the back of Riley's mind. As Riley shuts out her old friends Grace (voiced by Grace Lu) and Bree (voiced by Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green) in favour of her idle, older high-schooler Valentina Ortiz (voiced by Lilimar) and her friends, hoping to become more accepted in this new world she is entering. As Joy and the old emotions seek to recover Riley's older, pure sense of self Anxiety seizes complete control, threatening all she has ever held dear.

I can't say I liked this as much as the first film. Indeed, it took us too attempts to watch it with the plot coming thick and fast from the opening minutes…expecting a bit more lightness of touch, we had to stop it one night and pick it up again a week or so later. I am not entirely sure what it was but I can guess this is not so much a new film as an extension of the first so much so that I would suggest that you don't watch this film unless you have seen the first as the whole thing will be extraordinarily confusing to just walk into. There is a still a bit of playfulness of the first (the “sar-chasm” joke is quite cute though is over-egged) but even the effervescent Joy cannot keep the spirits of the film up as we descend into the “horror” of puberty. Having said that, from talking to my wife, she suggests the film is very real in regards to talking about the feelings and emotions of a young woman going through this but I am not sure viewers will want to watch a psychologically accurate portrayal of a child? The ending I found to be 100% on point and very satisfying indeed but it takes a while to get there as the film seems to drag on despite only being an hour and a half long. I suppose it is telling that it was in cinemas only briefly before going straight to Disney+…

Not as fun as the first, it is still an amusing and imaginative trip into the mind of a young girl.

Rating: “A bit better than average”

Review Date: 2024-12-08

Directed by: Kelsey Mann

Studio: Walt Disney Pictures

Year: 2024

Length: 96 minutes

Genre: Animation

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22022452/