Inside Out Movie Review
"Take her to the moon for me, Joy."
-Bing Bong
Best Pixar movie since Toy Story 3. Period. I haven't been able to rank it overall amongst the jewels under Pixar's belt, but Inside Out was so beautifully crafted. From how great and colorful the animation was, to how complex yet simply portrayed the ideas were presented, Inside Out had me hooked from to finish. I've seen it twice in theaters and just like with any other film, you catch the little things the second time around that really enrich the experience. The film was directed by both Pete Docter and Ronaldo del Carmen and let me say, they created something special. I felt like the last few Pixar films weren't meeting the high standard that is expected from them and I'm glad to say they turned that around. (I will say that Brave was pretty good but I did like Inside Out more.)
The film opens up with a newborn baby, Riley, in her parents arms, opening her eyes for the first time and what she feels is joy. Inside her head Joy appears and we are introduced to the first of five main characters of the film, each representing a base emotion. Within the first few months of her life her other emotions are born! We have Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust. Each have personalities that match their names perfectly and I really loved the color and animation, it was just beautiful. Not only does the film break feelings down in a visually logical way but it also tackles memories in such a unique and wonderful way. Riley's first memory is of her parents holding her in the hospital room and as this memory is created, Joy sees an orb form that contains that very memory. The closest thing I can compare them to are the Dragon Balls from Dragon Ball Z, but with moving images on them instead. Every time a memory is created it is stored and eventually put in long term memory. Then there are the special core memories that make up Riley's personality. Like when she made her first hockey shot, that served to create "hockey island" and nurtured her love for hockey as she grew up. Some of the other islands included friendship and family which were all important aspects of Riley's personality. Honestly I think it's genius. The human mind and our emotions are by no means a simple concept and Inside Out makes it enjoyable for both children and adults.
Our five main emotions hang out and work in headquarters everyday which is essentially the part of the brain that controls Riley's actions and reactions on a daily basis. They have a lens through her eyes and react to things that go on around her, constantly. Riley's life is suddenly uprooted when they have to move from Minnesota to San Francisco because of her dad's job and this throughs everyone through a loop. Joy is pretty much the leader which makes sense because who doesn't want to be happy all the time? But as we know that's not the case and Sadness becomes a character you just want to kick across the room because she finds a way to turn everything negative! But she also has some hilarious lines that adults would definitely appreciate more than children. It's important to also note that all the core memories are all orange, and Joy takes a lot of pride in them. Early on they figure out that just by touching memories, Sadness can make them blue, and from then on anytime Riley thinks of that memory she'll feel sad about it. So Joy does her best to keep Sadness away from any memories, especially the core ones. After an accident in headquarters Joy, Sadness and all the core memories are ejected out into long term memory, which is a seemingly endless maze of memory shelves. Here is where they meet Bing Bong, an imaginary friend Riley used to have when she was a little girl! He's this strange hybrid of elephant, cat, cotton candy and some other random things but he is one of the best parts of the movie! He helps Joy and Sadness traverse the maze even though he's sad that Riley has forgotten about him. When the camera pans up above the maze it reveals that the shelves make the shape of brain wrinkles, which I thought was a clever detail to add.
Inside Out is funny, it has heart, and it makes you feel a range of emotions! I went from laughing, to having a lump in my throat, to laughing again! It is everything a good animated film should be, and that is be enjoyable to every age group and audience out there. All of the characters in Riley's head were unique and although they weren't all happy like Joy, were of equal importance to the film and all wanted Riley to live a safe and happy life. It was very easy to relate to especially since I've moved around a lot and it was the little things that made this movie even better for me. Additions like the train of thought, which was a literal train, or the reasoning behind why we get songs stuck in our head, or the one little joke about fact and opinion. Seeing the movie twice really allowed to pick up on these things. I was also able to appreciate the music much more the second time around and I have to say it was good. Not amazing, but it added to the atmosphere of the film and was enjoyable. It also helped that I wasn't as sad the second time around since I knew what was coming. Underneath the beautiful exterior, Inside Out has a lot of important lessons to teach us and it is definitely worth the hour and a half. I give Inside Out a 9 out of 10 and recommend it highly! It's such a feel-good movie and quite frankly it's genius.
The film opens up with a newborn baby, Riley, in her parents arms, opening her eyes for the first time and what she feels is joy. Inside her head Joy appears and we are introduced to the first of five main characters of the film, each representing a base emotion. Within the first few months of her life her other emotions are born! We have Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust. Each have personalities that match their names perfectly and I really loved the color and animation, it was just beautiful. Not only does the film break feelings down in a visually logical way but it also tackles memories in such a unique and wonderful way. Riley's first memory is of her parents holding her in the hospital room and as this memory is created, Joy sees an orb form that contains that very memory. The closest thing I can compare them to are the Dragon Balls from Dragon Ball Z, but with moving images on them instead. Every time a memory is created it is stored and eventually put in long term memory. Then there are the special core memories that make up Riley's personality. Like when she made her first hockey shot, that served to create "hockey island" and nurtured her love for hockey as she grew up. Some of the other islands included friendship and family which were all important aspects of Riley's personality. Honestly I think it's genius. The human mind and our emotions are by no means a simple concept and Inside Out makes it enjoyable for both children and adults.
Our five main emotions hang out and work in headquarters everyday which is essentially the part of the brain that controls Riley's actions and reactions on a daily basis. They have a lens through her eyes and react to things that go on around her, constantly. Riley's life is suddenly uprooted when they have to move from Minnesota to San Francisco because of her dad's job and this throughs everyone through a loop. Joy is pretty much the leader which makes sense because who doesn't want to be happy all the time? But as we know that's not the case and Sadness becomes a character you just want to kick across the room because she finds a way to turn everything negative! But she also has some hilarious lines that adults would definitely appreciate more than children. It's important to also note that all the core memories are all orange, and Joy takes a lot of pride in them. Early on they figure out that just by touching memories, Sadness can make them blue, and from then on anytime Riley thinks of that memory she'll feel sad about it. So Joy does her best to keep Sadness away from any memories, especially the core ones. After an accident in headquarters Joy, Sadness and all the core memories are ejected out into long term memory, which is a seemingly endless maze of memory shelves. Here is where they meet Bing Bong, an imaginary friend Riley used to have when she was a little girl! He's this strange hybrid of elephant, cat, cotton candy and some other random things but he is one of the best parts of the movie! He helps Joy and Sadness traverse the maze even though he's sad that Riley has forgotten about him. When the camera pans up above the maze it reveals that the shelves make the shape of brain wrinkles, which I thought was a clever detail to add.
Inside Out is funny, it has heart, and it makes you feel a range of emotions! I went from laughing, to having a lump in my throat, to laughing again! It is everything a good animated film should be, and that is be enjoyable to every age group and audience out there. All of the characters in Riley's head were unique and although they weren't all happy like Joy, were of equal importance to the film and all wanted Riley to live a safe and happy life. It was very easy to relate to especially since I've moved around a lot and it was the little things that made this movie even better for me. Additions like the train of thought, which was a literal train, or the reasoning behind why we get songs stuck in our head, or the one little joke about fact and opinion. Seeing the movie twice really allowed to pick up on these things. I was also able to appreciate the music much more the second time around and I have to say it was good. Not amazing, but it added to the atmosphere of the film and was enjoyable. It also helped that I wasn't as sad the second time around since I knew what was coming. Underneath the beautiful exterior, Inside Out has a lot of important lessons to teach us and it is definitely worth the hour and a half. I give Inside Out a 9 out of 10 and recommend it highly! It's such a feel-good movie and quite frankly it's genius.
Comments
Post a Comment