Inside Out

Pixar's Inside Out is not the first movie that has attempted to visualize abstract mental ideas, but it's easily the best at doing so.  It's appropriate that the movie is filled with a range of emotions, and will likely have audiences laughing one minute, and tearing up the next.  In fact, the movie is so complex and rewarding in its emotions, I have a feeling that this will be a much bigger hit with adults than with kids.  Oh sure, kids will enjoy it, and there's nothing here that's inappropriate for them.  They just will get a much greater appreciation for the film when they watch it with their own children years from now.

The film is a comedic adventure set inside the mind of a preteen girl named Riley (voice by Kaitlin Dias).  The world inside Riley's brain looks kind of like a theme park, with different themed lands devoted to the things that Riley finds important, such as hockey or friends and family, and even a "train of thought" that transports information from one area to the next.  There's also a movie studio inside Riley's head which creates her dreams, their biggest hits being "I'm Falling Into a Pit" and 'I Can Fly!".  At the center of Riley's internal world is "central command", where five emotions pretty much decide how the girl will react to the things and people around her.  Since Riley is only 11 and a fairly happy child, the chief emotion at the controls is the sprightly and happy Joy (Amy Poehler), who does her best to make sure that every memory Riley has are happy ones.  Riley's memories are represented by small spheres that glow with the emotional color associated with the memory (joy - yellow, sad - blue, angry - red, etc.).  The spheres are then taken to a vacuum tube within central command, which shoots the memory spheres either into long term memory (a vast maze-like area filled with endless shelves of memory), or discarded into a pit where forgotten memories go.

Even though Joy is usually at the controls in Riley's brain, there are obviously other emotions who occasionally push her aside, and take over for a while.  They include Fear (Bill Hader) who is purple and bug-eyed and tries to keep Riley safe or cautious, Disgust (Mindy Kaling) who is green and sarcastic, and Anger (Lewis Black) who is flame red, prone to exploding in rage, and dresses like a corporate boss.  The emotions usually know when it is their turn at the controls.  They see everything from Riley's eyes through a monitor, and give her feedback through the control panel before them about how to react to different situations that she faces everyday.  There is one more emotion up in the control center who is usually discarded and pushed aside by the other emotions.  This is Sadness (Phyllis Smith), who is a soft blue and even though she doesn't know it, is quite complex.  She obviously doesn't want Riley to be sad, but she can't help from time to time touching the memory spheres, and turning Riley's previously happy memories into possibly sad or nostalgic ones.

Again, Sadness wants only the best for Riley, but she can't help but touch the memories.  She's drawn to them.  When Joy and the other emotions order her not to touch anything, Sadness agrees, but again she finds herself drawn to the orbs, particularly the yellow glowing memories associated with Joy.  As the film opens, Riley's emotions are a bit out of sorts, as her parents (Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan) have decided to move the family from Minnesota (where Riley has lived since she was born) to San Francisco.  With Joy at the controls, Riley puts on a brave face for her parents about having to leave her friends and everything she knows behind.  But once more, Sadness starts touching some of the memories of being back in Minnesota, causing Riley to become homesick and start tearing up in front of her new classmates at school.  She is experiencing nostalgia - joy mixed with sadness.  Joy, however, doesn't like her memories being tampered with, and while struggling with Sadness over Riley's core memories, both emotions are accidentally sucked out of the control room by a vacuum tube, along with the core memories. 

With no core memories and the two lead emotions no longer in control, Riley essentially shuts down and becomes despondent to everyone.  Anger, Fear and Disgust are now forced to take control solely, and while they try to emulate how Joy usually runs things at the controls, they obviously do not do a good job and make Riley moody and sarcastic.  As for Joy and Sadness, they are shot out via the vacuum tube into the vast interior world of Riley's mind, where her memories normally go and are stored away.  They must find a way to make it back to the central command center and restore everything to order before Riley's current despondent nature destroys everything she loves, such as the part of her mind devoted to family and friends.  At its basic core, Inside Out could be labeled as a buddy road trip movie, with Joy and Sadness having to work together to get home.  But that would be selling this particular movie short, which is filled with originality and complexity.  The film's director, Pete Doctor (Up), is not just making a simple adventure film, although that is how it will come across to small children.  He has essentially created a visual metaphor on how people handle depression, as well as what happens inside us all when life uproots us from what we are comfortable with.

Inside Out differs from most Pixar films (and most animated films in general) in that it cannot really be filed under one category.  It is not exactly a fantasy or an adventure film, although there are certainly elements of both.  The movie exists almost solely in the abstract visual word of Riley's mind, which are filled not just with her emotions, but also the other things that make her up, such as her hopes and dreams, her imaginary boyfriend, and even a long lost childhood imaginary friend that Riley dreamed up years ago who kind of looks like an elephant crossed with cotton candy, and has mostly gone neglected these days since she is older now and no longer remembers him.  This is a very different film for Pixar, which are usually rooted in some kind of reality.  Yes, the world outside of Riley's head is mundane and normal, but the outside normal world serves as a subplot at best in the film.  The focus here is on the dream-like world inside the mind.  There are no villains obviously, since everyone inside the world of the mind wants Riley to be happy.  But at the same time, the movie continues the virtues that all the great Pixar films have, and that is to entertain just about everyone in the audience.  Adults will find themselves laughing at the same jokes as their kids, but for different reasons.

This is a movie that earns repeat viewings, as there is so much on display here, and lots of hidden or throwaway references and jokes that you might miss the first time around.  There are moments that view repeating, such as when the heroes cross through the section devoted to Abstract Thought in their quest to get back to the command center, and begin to shift into different artstyles, such as Cubism or 2D lines.  There is also the clever dialogue, such as when one character is sorting through "facts" and "opinions", and finds he can't tell them apart.  But what I think will impress most people is the psychology behind the film, and how it stresses that Joy and Sadness truly do need each other in order to exist.  It's never dumbed down, nor is the message shoved in with a preachy monologue near the end.  The movie is subtle in its complexity, and as the two emotions learn to work together (both in the depths of the mind, as well as in the control room), we become aware that Inside Out is not just another animated feature, but is something truly rewarding.

Ultimately, the movie tells children that it is okay to be sad sometimes.  So many parents tell their kids to be happy, or that things are not as bad as they seem.  They try to suppress any other emotion besides happiness, which in a way, is what is happening in Riley's control center during the first half of the film.  Looking back on the film, I realized that this is almost a representation of how most children are raised, or how parents encourage their children to be.  We fear or perhaps do not understand feelings like sadness, and so we push it aside.  Inside Out teaches us the valuable lesson that there is to be a balance within us.  Not only is this a wonderful message for children, but it's an even better one for adults who are struggling with depression, or may feel life piling on top of them and they cannot handle it.  This is ultimately what makes the film so much more than just a summer entertainment.  Yes, the movie is tremendously enjoyable while you watch it, but when it is over, it stays in your mind, and you start thinking back on what the movie was really saying.

This is not only one of the best films of the year, but one that should be observed and talked about when it is over.  Adults will have strong conversations with their children, and have even deeper ones with other adults about how the film made them feel.  When all is said and done, this could be Pixar's greatest achievement when you really sit back and look at it.

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