Inside Out 2 is now playing in theaters and has been making double the numbers of the first movie. It has already grossed over $150 million in its opening weekend. This success was to be expected as it was one of the top movies people were looking forward to this summer. And by the general public, I mean kids and adults equally as this movie continues casting its charm, by finding the sweet spot between both audiences and presenting a story everyone can thoroughly enjoy.
Note: This review contains spoilers.
Inside Out 2: Synopsis
The sequel starts with Riley dealing with puberty for the first time, and the old emotions finding themselves unable to moderate her until the new emotions show up, Anxiety, Envy, Ennui, Embarrassment, and Nostalgia. The new emotions inform the old ones that during puberty, Riley’s life becomes more complicated hence the reason they joined them now.
Riley learns that two of her best friends are moving schools next year, which means she will be all alone in high school. This makes Anxiety kick in and take the lead. It alters Riley’s behavior into what the old emotions recognized to be something Riley is not.
Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear are taken off guard by these new emotions and try to intervene, so they do not mess with Riley’s Sense of Self. But they cannot as Anxiety ejects them to the back of Riley’s mind, claiming that she will no longer need them as much as she needs her new emotions. Now that she is experiencing the world in a totally different manner.
Anxiety also ejects Riley’s old Sense of Self and is devoted to building a new better one for her. So, throughout the movie, the old emotions are trying to find their way back to the headquarters and save Riley from what Anxiety and the other new emotions are putting her through while also trying to bring back her old Sense of Self
Review
Starting with what I admire the most about this movie, the witty details. They are such a delight and make one appreciate the creativity of the producing team a lot more. Details such as the Stream of Consciousness being an actual stream that carries the thoughts and emotions, Brainstorming being an actual storm with the ideas as the raindrops, and Sarcasm causing chasms. Next to the most stunning visual concept in the movie, in my opinion, The Belief System.
In addition to that, the film’s message was impactful this time too. We see Riley going through all these emotional changes while Anxiety and Envy are leading most of her choices. Envy makes her fascinated with the high schoolers she meets at the summer camp and wants to erase all her personality traits to be more like them and liked by them. This urge made her insanely anxious about all the possible worst-case scenarios in which she could end up lonely and despised by everyone.
These emotions dramatized a very simple life event, but it was spot on. When you are at such an age, you could become extremely self-conscious and everything you do or don’t, plagues you for times on end.
I also liked Anxiety confessing that all it did across the movie was merely a protection method against all odds. Sometimes, our survival instincts push it upon us to calculate and measure all the possible worst conclusions. This is needed of course, but in a balanced manner. Anxiety only realizes this method can be destructive when the new Sense of Self it built for Riley dictates to her that she is not good enough. All the insecurities that Anxiety induced to push Riley to improve, backfired on her.
On the other hand, Joy too was unintentionally damaging Riley. Joy was not allowing any bad memories or negative feedback Riley received to reside in her mind, which contributed to building an ideal version of her Sense of Self. She believed herself to be nothing besides a good person. This filtered Sense of Self-made her feel disoriented because she was experiencing many feelings that made her behave in a certain way that does not align with being utterly good.
Riley feels out of place, and she no longer can recognize who she is anymore. This is only resolved when Joy too gives up pushing this unrealistic Sense of Self upon her. In a beautiful scene, we witness a new, and more natural, Sense of Self developing. This one encapsulates all what Riley is, all the positives and negatives.
Being flawed is being natural. Being a human does not require being a perfect person, but a decent one. The human being is a collection of many things and have many aspects to themselves. Refusing or ignoring any part of oneself can be a recipe for a disaster. One is to embrace all they are and work on improving what they can in a reasonable manner. This sequel of Inside Out gracefully portrayed this truth and simplified it for everyone out there.
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