Review: Inside Out

Just cry it out.

Riley (Katilyn Dias) is an eleven year old girl that moves from Minnesota to California with her parents while the emotions in her head, Joy, (Amy Poehler) Sadness, (Phyllis Smith) Fear, (Bill Hader) Anger, (Lewis Black) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling) try to handle it all. Joy and Sadness accidentally get sucked out of Riley's "headquarters" and end up in her "long term memory." They have to get back since Joy has mostly been running things all Riley's life and Anger, Disgust, and Fear aren't going to help.

You have to hand it to Pixar for thinking outside the box. The story here feels very original and the animation is stunning. But it's just sad. Even the short film paired with this feature, Lava borderlines on very depressing territory. My kid kept whispering "it's so sad" to me throughout this movie and I was worried he was going to start crying. (Hell, I almost got ugly cry face there for a second) The film ended up being an overall downer because of it, despite it having some pretty funny moments. (Like the annoying gum commercial song that never leaves you)

There's been a lot of hype surrounding this movie, how it's one of the best Pixar has ever done. I actually think it ends up fairly low on the Pixar list, personally. To me, this is more in line with Cars and Monsters Inc than WALL-E and Toy Story. It's not a bad film, and it's something interesting for kids to think about. It just ultimately didn't meet the hype for me.

Recommended: Yes

Grade: C+

Memorable Quote: "Sometimes we send this one up to headquarters for no reason." - Forgetter Bobby (Bobby Moynihan) 

Comments

  1. I saw the trailer for this film (one where they're at the dinner table) and found it hilarious (the father character daydreaming does kinda mirror me when dinner table talk begins to bore me). Sounds like this trailer doesn't really mirror the film as it didn't get across the sadness of the content.

    I do want to see this (can't until mid July - I wish studios would stop doing this but I know why they do it) despite your lowish grade. I like sad movies, sounds strange but I do. Not sure why.

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    1. I'm probably in the minority on this one. it seems everyone else loves it. The scenes where they jump into other peoples' heads are hilarious, at least.

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  2. This film RUINED ME!!! UGH, it is so special to me already...like...I think it's brilliant. Sad that the sadness overtook you, but I found it to be really well balanced. I just posted my review for this one too.

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    1. I'm off to read it. I think I got a bit nervous about my kid actually crying during this because 1) Him being sad makes ME sad and 2) He would've been soooo loud. lol

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  3. Oh, man. This is way up at the top for me. I loved this one. I didn't find this overly sad at all. I loved the ugly face cry this gave me. I found this movie charming and full of truth and happiness, quite the opposite of depressing for me. Alas, we differ in our Pixar tastes. I don't love Wall-E, Toy Story's day has passed for me, and Monsters Inc. is one of my favorites, as is this one.

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    1. Ha, yeah, I guess we do. I think I let my expectations get a little too high for this one.

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  4. I'm gonna have to see this one for myself. I'm the same as Kevin in the fact that our Pixar tastes seem to be much different. I'd put Cars at the bottom of the list like you, but Monsters Inc is way up the ladder. Hmmmmm. :) In any case, at least Pixar is out of their sequel phase for a bit again (until Incredibles 2....and Finding Dori......heavy sigh).

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    1. lol they'll be back for some sequel action. It wouldn't even surprise me if they did another Inside Out when Riley is older.

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  5. Pixar is usually better at finding the balance between happy and sad. I read something recently that they almost cut a few key scenes of "Up," because it was too sad, but those scenes really made the move. The combination of a little sad, with a lot of happy and wonderment made Up one of my favorite films. It looks like Pixar missed the mark on this one though.

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    1. Up grew on me,(never expected to cry in the first 5 minutes of a Pixar film) but Inside Out wasn't balanced nearly as well.

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  6. Sorry you didn't like this one more, but I wasn't expecting to love it. Most of Pixar's latest have been underwhelming for me, even if I've liked them overall. This one was a return to form. :)

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    1. I'm glad I'm not the only one underwhelmed by this. It was starting to look that way. ha

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  8. Pixar done the absolutely great work i wouldn't surprise if inside out won at least 2 Oscar awards. Free Upcoming Hollywood Movies Online

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    1. It will definitely be a front runner in Animated unless something extraordinary comes out after it. It could have a bit of a shot in Original Screenplay, again depended on the non-animated competition.

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  9. Holy Smokes! A C rating?? I am so surprised. I have heard so many good things about it. I am going to see it Saturday this weekend. I didn't really want to go and see a depressing movie. I should review it this weekend.

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    1. I look forward to your review! Yeah, I know I'm in the minority on this one. It just doesn't stand up to the other animated films out there that I love.

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  10. I agree with you on the over-done sadness. Pretty much anything that could go wrong went wrong. not only did the poor girl have bad luck, but her brain emotions were extremely dumb and clumsy. Ha! Nevertheless, the idea was genius, and a few of the jokes were quite clever, as you said. Sadness cracked me up!

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    1. Poor Sadness lol. I felt bad for her half the time.

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