Pixar has done it again. Maybe better than ever.

Rating: 9/10 (21 June 2015)

Pixar has been the most daring animated movie studio this side of Japan.
With marvelous examples like UP, WALL-E and Finding Nemo they always find the proper way to introduce themes that many deemed too heavy for children and in a way that's both moving and thought provoking, like life after the loss of someone we love, loneliness, social alienation and mourning.
And now, we have Inside Out, the latest Pixar's work in an already fantastic oeuvre, and while it does not have the powerful drama and character development of UP or the magnificently executed reflection on solitude that was WALL-E it's no less complex as Inside Out choose to tackle something even more immediate: the complexity in our identity.
Riley's personality is well built and relatable, quite an achievement since, if we are strict, we could consider her a big plot vehicle for the true protagonists: Joy and Sadness. The way these two interact with each other and with Riley's identity –cleverly presented as a set of corridors of memory and isles of identity– is a phenomenal example of intelligent animation.
When you are sitting there just smiling to yourself about the brilliance of Pixar introducing psychoanalysis concepts to an audience composed mainly of children and explaining these concepts with clear and understandable visual metaphors you know you're witnessing something special.
And of course, being a Pixar movie, the emotive scenes are there, ready to move you and take you with them. There's charm, there are laughs. There's plenty of what's lacking in the movies of Dreamworks and others: there's heart.
I attended the premiere with my fiancée and my mother, who studied child psychology and worked with children with special needs for years and in the end she told us, with tears in her eyes: I never imagined something like this would ever be done. For my mother it was so moving and complex that she could not believe that children where understanding the movie so well.
However, I'm a little skeptical and that's why I'm not ready to give this movie the full 10/10. The movie is indeed complex, maybe too complex sometimes, and I think I saw a couple of children –and adults– not understanding many aspects of this fine film. One clear example was the abstract thoughts chamber. I don't think all of us are ready for something this clever, at least not in this format. However I welcome it with arms wide open. It is time we start respecting the intelligence of children.
Now, it's time for me to finish this, think about the movie for a while and take my imaginary friend to the moon.