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. MyerlaJune 23, 2015 at 7:51 AM

    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.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJune 23, 2015 at 8:00 AM

      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.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousJune 23, 2015 at 11:06 AM

    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.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJune 23, 2015 at 2:32 PM

      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

      Delete
  3. Kevin PowersJune 23, 2015 at 12:15 PM

    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.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJune 23, 2015 at 2:31 PM

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

      Delete
  4. Kyle MulfordJune 23, 2015 at 4:26 PM

    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).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJune 24, 2015 at 6:50 AM

      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.

      Delete
  5. msmariahJune 23, 2015 at 7:59 PM

    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.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJune 24, 2015 at 6:50 AM

      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.

      Delete
  6. JoshJune 24, 2015 at 6:02 AM

    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. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJune 24, 2015 at 6:48 AM

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

      Delete
  7. UnknownJune 25, 2015 at 3:33 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  8. UnknownJune 25, 2015 at 3:34 AM

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

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJune 25, 2015 at 6:56 AM

      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.

      Delete
  9. Angela's Anxious LifeJune 25, 2015 at 7:10 PM

    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.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJune 26, 2015 at 7:35 AM

      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.

      Delete
  10. Tanner JonesJuly 6, 2015 at 4:56 PM

    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!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJuly 7, 2015 at 7:00 AM

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

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing ...
Read more

Indie Gems: Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

-
Image
Passionate about your profession? I had never heard of this film until it ended up on one of Jason's favorite horror movie lists around Halloween. It immediately sounded interesting to me, so of course I threw it in my Netflix queue. (and if I'm just now watching it after adding it around Halloween, you know how ridiculous my queue is) Taylor (Angela Goethals) is a journalist who, along with a film crew decides to follow around a serial killer named Leslie Vernon. (Nathan Baesel) He plans on doing the typical slasher thing - getting a bunch of drunk teens in an abandoned house and knocking them off one by one. He gets advice from a retired serial killer, Eugene (Scott Wilson) and is threatened by a man who's on to him, Doc Holloran (Robert Englund) Taylor and crew are there capturing it all. Leslie Vernon is fucking hilarious to start with, and clearly very passionate about what he does. He tells Taylor all of his secrets and can barely contain his excitemen...
Read more

My Favorite Movie Youtube Channels

-
Image
Starting around 2018, I started watching Youtube for more than just movie trailers or music videos whenever a new one dropped. Now I'm in full blown subscription mode and don't bat an eyelash at watching a Youtube video that's over an hour long. I watch Youtube for a few different categories of content, but one of them that I love most is movie/TV essays and commentary, and that's what I'm going to talk about today. Below is a list of my favorite movie related Youtube channels. Let me know if you're familiar with them too, or if you have any you'd like to recommend to me.  Double Toasted - I'm honestly surprised this channel isn't bigger. I first came across Korey and Martin when they reviewed War for the Planet of the Apes a few months before it hit theaters and I thought they were hysterical. While their full length videos stream on Twitch, they often upload their movie reviews and commentary on youtube and they're always hilarious. They've...
Read more