MOVIE REVIEW: INSIDE OUT 2

 

Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust have been running a successful operation by all accounts. However, when Anxiety shows up, they aren't sure how to feel.

Director: Kelsey Mann

Cast:  Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan, Tony Hale, Liza Lapira, Maya Hawke, Ayo Edebiri, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Paul Walter Hauser, Kensington Tallman

Release Date: June 14, 2024

Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Family, Fantasy

Rated PG for some thematic elements.

Runtime: 1h 36m

Review:

Inside Out 2 doesn't pack the emotional punch the original did but it still manages to find an inventive and relatable approach to the experience of going through adolescence.  Kelsey Mann takes over the directorial reins from Pete Docter and maintains the same wonderfully abstract and colorful style throughout.  Mann does manage to expand the world by introducing us to the basement where memories create florescent strings which make up Riley's sense of self and the Secret Vault where we get a fun mash up of 2D and video game animation.  The new settings provide plenty of eye candy and their own brand of distinctiveness from the original which is refreshing.  Likewise, the new emotions' character designs are familiar but more exaggerated than the original group led by Anxiety who looks like a mutated Fraggle Rock Muppet.  Amy Poehler again voices Joy and leads the majority of the film with her endless exuberance and optimism.  There's more to Joy's personal journey this go around which gives her more depth and allows Poehler to do more than just be endlessly optimistic.  Phyllis Smith and Lewis Black also return as Sadness and Anger with both delivering solid work again.  Tony Hale and Liza Lapira take over for Bill Hader and Mindy Kaling as Fear and Disgust with admirable ease as the characters get screen time this go around as the quartet trek back to home base.  Maya Hawke and Ayo Edebiri join the cast as Anxiety and Envy with Hawke bring the perfect sense of neurotic, anxiousness to her character.  Hawke get a lion's share of the newcomer's spotlight and her exchanges with Poehler in the opening and finale really shine.  They manage to bring the story together from different ends of the spectrum to its complicated and relatable conclusion although the story toys with larger ideas such as psychical maturation and everything that comes with that but pulls back to focus on the angst.  Its a safer choice and possibly something a sequel would deal with but that doesn't detract from the overall quality of Inside Out 2.

B+