Inside Out 2
The good thing about me not getting to “Inside Out 2” until August is that there is hope for me, when the inevitable “Inside Out 3” gets released, getting to the film in July of whatever year it is released. You see, I didn’t see Pete Doctor’s “Inside Out” until September 2015, and since I’m a month earlier in getting to Kelsey Mann’s sequel than its original, I should be able to see subsequent ones earlier in their release. Of course, seeing films as massively popular as “Inside Out 2” this late in their release cycle also means divestment from the hype that came with their initial release. That is also a benefit of a delayed viewing.
Someone made an excellent point at the time of “Inside Out 2’s” release that it’s fortunate that our protagonist in these films is a teenage girl, especially as she is hitting puberty, because if it were a teenage boy, it would be hard to make this film PG, and appropriate for all audiences. Earlier in the week, I watched Sean Wang’s wonderful “Didi,” and it absolutely proves that assessment correct. That said, seeing Riley and Chris Wang’s early time in puberty in rapid succession also makes it fascinating to see how boys and girls deal with the pressures of fitting in, and finding their place, in that transition from middle school to high school. As such, “Inside Out 2” is more chaotic in its narrative than Doctor’s original, but no less emotional. This film had me from the outset, and it was impossible not to be in tears by the time Riley becomes the teenage girl she’s going to be in high school, in all its messiness and growing pains. Mann’s film is a terrific follow-up in that respect.
As with the original film, the main emotion running Riley, Joy (once again played by Amy Poehler), has to make room for other emotions to take the lead during significant times in Riley’s life. We are given an update while Riley (Kensington Tallman), who’s taken up hockey, is in the penalty box during a championship game; in the intervening years since her family moved, she’s proven herself to be a kind, loving person with two wonderful best friends in Grace (Grace Lu) and Bree (Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green). After their team wins the championship, Riley, Grace and Bree are invited to a hockey camp run by the coach of the high school hockey team (Yvette Nicole Brown). While on their way there, Riley is in for a shock when Grace and Bree let her know that they will not be at the same high school. That is the catalyst for Riley’s story, while the onset of puberty brings forth new emotions for Joy and co. to contend with- Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser) and Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos).
The way that “Inside Out 2” looks at puberty is compelling, and accessible for everyone, starting with the demolition crew coming into change up the control room on Joy, Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Disgust (Liza Lapira), Fear (Tony Hale) and Anger (Lewis Black). Whenever they touch something now, every emotion gets elevated past an acceptable amount, causing big swings in Riley. Isn’t that what puberty is, at its core? Emotions getting heightened, and experiencing new ones as the pressure to fit in gets stronger. One of the concepts that is introduced in this film is a physical manifestation of Riley’s core personality that has formed over the past 13 years, made up of moments and feelings that act as nerves to form a single entity. This is thrown out as Riley’s new emotions take over during hockey camp, and the pressure to make an impression with her new teammates is paramount, even at the expense of her current friends. The lead emotion is Anxiety, which Hawke performs with an exceptional energy that captures the feeling beautifully in all its manic desire to keep Riley from any number of imagined “worst case scenarios” it comes up with. I felt that in my very core, as someone who’s struggled with anxiety for most of my life. The ways in which the new emotions threaten to change entirely who Riley is, all in the name of “protecting her,” is a great hook for this film, and “Inside Out 2” gets to the very struggle of what it means when we find ourselves faced with choices and pressures we did not expect.
Most everything worked beautifully for me in this film. Some of the shifts in animation for some of the “secrets” that Riley carries with her, affection for old TV shows and video game characters, is jarring compared to how strikingly the rest of the film is animated, but I can get on board with it because they are supposed to be remnants of a past Riley that does not exist anymore. And Andrea Datzman’s score doesn’t quite get as emotional as Giacchino’s did for the original, but she absolutely scores this film the way it needs to be scored, especially with all the hockey action. But there’s too much in “Inside Out 2” that I love for these to be anything other than minor quibbles. Mann and her co-writers, Dave Holstein and Meg LeFauve, know how this story needs to go, and they deliver a winner. This is a special series of films from one of the most special studios in recent Hollywood history.
