The Newest Pixar Triumph

Rating: 7/10 (20 August 2015)

Yeah, okay, it's good; but is Pixar's newest film really that good? Truth is, the worst thing you can say about the worst Pixar films (cough, cough Cars 2) is by comparison they just don't reach the high bar set by Pixar itself. None of them are truly bad artistically. In fact, in comparison to other animation studios, Pixar remains a downright godsend. In that regard, Inside Out is a massive triumph.
Riley (Diaz) is just like any twelve-year-old Minnesotan girl. She loves her family and friends and likes to play hockey and goof off when she's not getting good grades in school. Up until now most of her memories are happy largely thanks to the emotions that run her mind. But when her family move to San Francisco those same emotions; Joy (Poehler), Sadness (Smith), Anger (Black), Fear (Hader) and Disgust (Kaling) must experience a parallel odyssey in the mind of young Riley.
On the whole the idea, while terrifically refreshing, thinly veils its 94 minute run time. This is including a subplot involving Joy and Sadness getting lost in Riley's subconscious and their odyssey to get back to mission control. While good for a full movie, it's much better as an animated short where straining for material doesn't feel too cloying. No matter, for the geniuses at Pixar know how to make things work story-wise using a myriad of psychological inside jokes and kid friendly humor. Having the "dream factory" look like a Hollywood studio was a particularly nice touch.
Pixar is also deft at making sympathetic characters and the emotions that work Riley's brain and influence her actions are well fleshed out. Its true that each character is meant to encapsulate the emotion they represent but their far from the flat characters I expected. It was honestly one of the most pleasant surprises I've seen in an animated film in some time. Joy probably goes through the largest character change realizing that despite her dour demeanor there is a place for Sadness in Riley's world. It helps that the voice actors chosen are able to convey so much so well.
Hang on though, Pixar isn't off the hook when it comes to all characters however. Perhaps it's just the limitations of the high- concept but with all these emotions controlling Riley's head, Riley herself comes off as one-dimensional. The decisions she makes are, well for lack of a better word emotional, and rely on little logic. I'm not saying a twelve-year-old should have an adult's understanding of consequence and forethought but for the most part she was simply reacting to stimuli like a behaviorist's wet-dream. There's little history or experience in her actions other than a hatred for broccoli. Likewise her parents are just flat. The father inhabits the role of the absent father whose busy with work...no new ground broken there, and the mother is just your run of the mill concerned mother too tacit to really see what's going on.
Overall, the movie's faults are outweighed by its successes. Its a gorgeous movie that does a great job creating the world inside the head of a twelve-year-old girl. It's said that the animators wanted the emotions to appear like apparitions and not as solid objects. In congress with the playful ergonomics of mission control and the creatures the populate the subconscious, Inside Out is yet another visual threshold the animators of Pixar have powered through.
Years ago when Up (2009) came out, I saw a news clip about Disney's irritation with Pixar's toy strategy. They were miffed because no child would ever buy a Carl Fredricksen action-figure complete with a tennis ball adorned cane. I'm sure a few rebels in Pixar giggled but John Lasseter and the executive board likely owed Disney's merchandisers for having a 70+ year-old protagonist. Inside Out offers cute characters who are sure to sell at Toys R Us as will The Good Dinosaur (2015), Finding Dory (2016), Toy Story 4 (2017), Incredibles 2 (TBA) and Cars 3 (TBA). Here's to hoping the future intent of Pixar movies remains telling a good yarn and not selling it.