As the movie opens, we meet young Riley, a happy 11-year-old girl living in Minnesota with her parents. We also meet the colorful team of emotions -- Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), and Fear (Bill Hader) -- who operate the machinery inside her head. It’s an elaborate and carefully constructed combination of amusement park and industrial complex, all designed to catalog memories and keep her emotionally stable. Everything is great, until she and her parents move to San Francisco. The stress of the situation gets the better of her, and despite everyone's best efforts, the entire system crashes, and Riley stands on the brink of a very dangerous emotional breakdown.
Great topic, right? I love a kids’ movie that actually tries to teach a vital lesson. However, in this case, I think the filmmakers bit off more than they could chew.
But, let’s start with the positives. I was immediately struck by the vibrant colors and cool animation of the emotions. It’s certainly a very delightful movie to look at, and the casting is brilliantly, ridiculously right on. Amy Poehler was born to do animated voiceover work. Her energy is very similar to that of Ellen Degeneres, probably my favorite voice actor of all time. If the name Phyllis Smith doesn’t ring a bell, she played Phyllis on The Office -- and is perfect for the droll voice of Sadness. But my favorite was definitely Lewis Black, who made me laugh every time his character spoke. To have such a caustic comedian voice the animated embodiment of anger in a kids’ movie is just too perfect. Mindy Kaling and Bill Hader do great jobs, too, but their characters are not nearly really scene stealers like the others.
On the flipside, while I really liked the concept of helping kids to understand the role that various emotions play in their overall character and well-being, I think it went a little too high concept. I loved how Joy and Sadness wind up realizing how they have to work together, but there’s a whole lot of convoluted stuff that gets in the way of this message. Subconscious? Core memories? Abstract thought? What little kid is going to understand and stay focused on any of this? I like to think I’m a fairly smart grownup, and they lost even my attention several times.
Inside Out is definitely an original movie with a fabulous cast, which earns it a lot of brownie points. But losing sight of your audience is a huge problem. It’s probably not ideal for kiddos with extra short attention spans.
It opens today, Friday, June 19. Go here for local theaters and times.
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