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Sep 10, 2024 Web Exclusive By Kaveh Jalinous Photography by Sony Home Entertainment/Walt Disney Studios

It’s difficult to find the words to talk about Inside Out 2, a film that—judging by its $1.7-billion worldwide box office success—has ostensibly been seen and loved (and perhaps even re-seen) by so many people. In a sense, the sheer amount of fans—of all ages—who love both the original Inside Out (2015) and this sequel is confounding in itself. While playful, comedic and quick-paced, the film series—which quite literally characterizes the emotions in early-teenager Riley’s brain—consistently confronts themes so mature, nuanced and complex and that it almost feels more attuned for adults than children. But, that’s the magic of Inside Out. It’s a story meant for everyone—despite how serious and emotionally affecting things can get.

In Inside Out 2, it’s clear that new-to-the-series director Kelsey Mann and the film’s creative team know where to take storytelling risks and where to scale back. In many ways, the sequel is extremely similar to the first film. The core five emotions in the first film—Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale) and Disgust (Liza Lapira)—are back, despite key changes in the voice cast (in the first film, comedians Bill Hader and Mindy Kaling voiced Fear and Anger). The framework of the story still follows teenager Riley (Kensington Tallman) as she is put in a situation that tests her character. In the first film, she was moving to a new city. This time, she’s going to hockey camp the summer before freshman year, where she wants to get a coveted spot on her high school’s hockey team and make a good impression amongst the team’s senior captains. But, there’s just one problem: new emotions show up. And not just any new emotions…

The decision to ostensibly make Inside Out 2 an extension of the first one—similar narrative structure, similar thematic resonance—works in the film’s favor and against it. The new emotions—Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Aye Edibiri), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser) and Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos)—are smart choices. As it becomes clear early on, this is a film primarily about the power of anxiety to influence the ways in which we think and act, towards ourselves and to others. Inside Out isn’t the first series to explore this topic. Multiple franchises—Puss in Boots and The Spider-Verse among the most well-known—have dedicated plotlines, or even entire short films, to exploring the role of anxiety and panic attacks in our brains. Regardless of the growing conversation around anxiety, it can be difficult to explore such a personal topic without coming off as too preachy or over-the-top. The narrative structure of Inside Out 2—which pins anxiety as a complex, perhaps even misunderstood villain within a broader story—lets the filmmakers explore the emotion without ever making the film feel too therapeutic or emotionally manipulative.

Even so, making Inside Out 2 primarily about anxiety also makes the film’s story feel somewhat one-dimensional. The magic of the original Inside Out is how complex it is. The inciting incident of that film—Riley moving towns—is thematically rich. The fear of starting a new life, the misplaced anger directed at her parents and the sadness of leaving everything she knows behind, among many other themes, all drive the narrative her emotions must go through. The hockey camp setup isn’t as interesting, and—even though big emotional changes are baked into the story—the film’s stakes never feel as high or intense. Even the journey the emotions have to go on, having to face off against only one major villain-ish character, feels less thrilling. The first film experimented with different animation styles to tell conceptualize somewhat abstract concepts such as memory, dreams and various other phenomena that go on inside our heads. Because this film is so centered around one specific idea, it misses out on those types of bold risks, narratively and stylistically.

Regardless of these shortcomings, Inside Out 2‘s animation looks incredible. It’s interesting to see the effect that time has had on computer animation. The film’s colors are bold; specific elements of the characters’ appearances are rendered with incredible detail. It’s a true testament to how much the field has advanced technologically. The excellent visuals look even better in 4K UHD, the spotlight feature of the film’s physical release. The steelbook also contains some excellent featurettes that expand upon the process of bringing the film’s story from idea to reality. Among the best: a documentary about the conceptual creation of Riley’s additional emotions, a commentary about a specific sequence exploring Riley’s repressed memory and five deleted scenes.

(www.blu-ray.com/movies/Inside-Out-2-4K-Blu-ray/364807/)