Inside Out 2 review

Inside Out 2 seemed like a daunting — possibly misguided (?) — prospect. Lump the first three Toy Stories in one entry and the 2015 original is easily one of Pixar’s Top 5 best films. That put a tremendous burden on the filmmakers to first justify a sequel and then make it worthy of the Inside Out brand.

No need to have Anger blow a fiery gasket or Disgust suck her teeth in annoyance. Inside Out 2 might even be better than its predecessor. Repeated viewings will determine its full measure, but this is easily one of 2024’s best films. It’s just June, but this clearly seems like the Best Animation favorite for next year’s Oscars.

Riley (Kensington Tallman) has just celebrated her 13th birthday and is officially a teenager. This means a whole new set of problems for the emotions in her head. Joy (Amy Poehler) is still running the controls with help from Sadness (Phyllis Smith) Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Liza Lapira) and Fear (Tony Hale). Along with Riley’s supportive parents (Kyle MacLachlan and Diane Lane), she’s got a great support system.

Riley and her BFFs, Bree (Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green) and Grace (Grace Lu), get invited to a prestigious hockey camp. If they impress Coach Robinson (Yvette Nicole Brown), they could make the high school team as freshman. And maybe become one of the team’s star player Val (Lilimar).

Like most sequels, Inside Out 2 doubles the fun from the previous installment with more characters. Or in this case, more emotions. There’s Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser) and Ennui — French for Boredom (Adèle Exarchopoulos). All of whom react to this potential significantly momentous weekend as a major pivot point for Riley.

Still not fully learning her lesson from Sadness, Joy welcomes the new emotions while asserting she’s the dominant personality. And predictably, things go wrong in a way to make the others less confident in Joy’s leadership. While others take a more aggressive approach.

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Best Screenplay Oscar co-nominee Meg LeFauve returns to write the sequel alongside Dave Holstein (Weeds) wisely don’t just try to force the new blood into the mix. LaFauve and Holstein set up a clever dynamic where the new emotions clash with the old guard on how best to guide Riley. Anxiety and Envy lead the charge to push them out forcing Joy, Sadness and crew scrambling to get back to Riley’s Control Center.

Establishing non-productive emotions like anxiety and envy as the “bad guys” was genius. This is the kind of plot that younger viewers will enjoy for the bright, colorful characters and constant stimuli.

For parents and guardians, Inside Out 2 is going to hit a lot differently as they can relate to how those negative emotions affected them in the past…and maybe still do. The true genius will come 10-20 years later when these same children revisit the film and find one of their childhood favorites is even more relevant to them as adults.

Animated movies don’t typically serve as public service announcements, but Inside Out 2 absolutely could be used as a guide for promoting strong mental health. Through Riley’s new core memories and beliefs, the emotions start to realize they’re better together than one running the whole show.

That sounds heavy, but Director Kelsey Mann handles the audience controls with no trouble. There’s a terrific mix of sight gags, humor on awkward early teen years as well as some reflective emotional beats.

Word of warning — viewers with allergies of any kind might find their eyes getting overly watery near the final stretch. Pacing is perfect. Clocking in at 96 minutes, the film doesn’t feel too long and could have easily gone another 10- to 15-minutes without wearing out its welcome.

The voice cast remains stellar. Poehler’s enthusiastic performance as Joy always keeps scenes lively. Hawke provides a nice counterbalance as the hyper Anxiety.

Inside Out 2 is so enjoyable, emotional and entertaining that Pixar might as well start working on a third installment now. This is a franchise that doesn’t need to worry about bottling its emotions anytime soon.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Photo Credit: Disney

Check out Inside Out now on 4K Blu Ray on Amazon.

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