Lots of invention, lots of ideas but not enough direction

Rating: 4/10 (27 July 2015)

I like Pixar films and sat down to this not knowing a huge amount about it.
I had an inkling of the basics having seen one of the very early trailers but I hadn't fully immersed myself in all the footage. This meant that I went in reasonably fresh and waiting to be entertained.
Granted the concept was fresh, granted there was plenty of invention but it was like they threw them in a tombola and spilled them out into the film without any judicious selectivity.
I remember watching the making of featurette for Big Hero 6 and they were discussing how Pixar don't really storyboard a film preferring it to have an organic growth. Now sometimes that can work but for Inside Out it certainly didn't.
It just felt like it was made by a large group of people throwing great ideas into the pot but no one then sifting through them to see how they worked in the film. It lacked a firm director to weed out and discard some of these ideas and concentrate on the forward drive of the film.
It needed someone to temper the proceedings so Joy didn't dominate the film so much. It needed someone to keep the film bouncing along without slowing down for the next great idea.
I was genuinely surprised to find myself bored halfway through and having to give contemplation to leaving when my GF suggested it. As it was I carried on but my attention wasn't held and my wonder wasn't awed.
So yes, plenty of clever ideas but not enough focus or momentum.