Truly Comes From the Heart

Rating: 10/10 (18 June 2015)

Owing from Pixar Studios' absence last year - and it's recent over-reliance on prequels and sequels - their latest project titled Inside Out happens to be the most hilarious and emotionally-driven movie ever shown. Not since their last films Up and Toy Story 3 has there ever been a Pixar movie that will make you laugh and even move you by the time it has reached its climactic end.
As the story goes, 11-year-old Riley Anderson and her family live a great life in their Minnesota town. But when her father is transferred to a new job in the Bay Area of San Francisco and has the entire family uprooted, Riley has trouble fitting in to this different environment, causing her emotions within to navigate her through a new neighborhood, new school, and new life.
When it was near over, I began to take notice there were a few various fellow audience members (fewer kids and mostly adults) quietly tearing up, while it also left the gears in my mind constantly turning and pondering out of curiosity over how much the studio went through to get this concept right. To me, I feel Pixar seems to have finally rebounded from their quality blunders in the early 2010s and focused more on an entirely new, original story that has an equal balance of comedy and drama rather than just one particular genre, which doesn't usually turn out that well when trying to tell it in animated form. With a talented cast voicing the personified emotions like Amy Poehler and Bill Hader (SNL alums), Mindy Kaling, Lewis Black, and Phyllis Smith, it's like they really channeled these vibrant, colorful characters with such ease and likability. Newcomer Kaitlyn Dias wasn't bad neither voicing their human host Riley since the character's personality - from my own personal experience - started to remind me of a young niece I know. Director Pete Docter sure cranked out yet another cleverly crafted, amazing story following from his past, touching hits Monsters Inc. and Up. And he certainly meant well when he said that his movies were practically based on his family life, in this case his own preteen daughter Ellie - whom Riley is loosely modeled after.
The film's concept feels near-similar to past works like 2001's Osmosis Jones (its concept was well-conceived, but how it contrasts into the real world setting didn't translate well) and the 1943 Disney short titled "Reason and Emotion." However the studio managed to push this concept further with an imaginative set-up where the emotions are not just the characters, but by exploring that the mind has endless possibilities and realms for them to wander outside their headquarters, depending on how well Riley's experiences (good or bad) are in the real world. It's like it frequently plays with Isaac Newton's third law of motion. One example of that had Sadness affecting one core memory by touch and it affects Riley not just physically, but mentally as well. Psychologically for an adult, we would easily get the idea if the problem isn't resolved, apathy will further escalate. Not many kids will understand why we feel moved by it, since through their perspective, they'll mostly adore the entire film as a visual and spectacle delight. With that aside, this movie never once disappointed me since it has both ambition and Pixar nostalgia written all over it. I'm also glad that since the emotions' human host is female, the writing crew did not rely on giving Riley stereotypical "girly" interests. Giving her a tomboy-like trait properly balances out how she can run on both sides.
The moral: No matter your age or the life you live, the importance of family and your own well-being shouldn't be overlooked. Your mind says one thing, but from the heart there's something more.
On a separate note: Its accompanying short subject titled Lava is definitely worth looking into. One of the best Pixar shorts I've ever witnessed in a while. Not sure why awards season overlooks their short films these days, Lava has quite a story that I consider a love letter to Hawaii.