Forget Pixar, forget animated films - this is simply one of the most outstanding movies ever made

Rating: 10/10 (7 August 2015)

I almost never go out of my way to review a film I just saw but I just couldn't resist here. I am a huge, huge fan of Disney/Pixar's work, and for a solid 12 years my favourite was 2003's Finding Nemo. I did not expect anything to replace it considering I am an adult now and I was a child in 2003. But Inside Out is quite simply something else entirely.
First of all, the concept of the film is something so delightfully original that I knew from the start I would at least be partly impressed by the movie. Cars, for example, is a nice enough film with a good message and funny characters, but at the end of the day, it's just an animated movie about talking cars. Inside Out, however, is set primarily in the mind of an eleven year old girl, Riley. Specifically, the main characters are representatives of her five basic emotions: namely Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Anger and Fear. These five, de facto led by Joy, influence Riley's actions, decisions and feelings from 'Headquarters' inside her conscious mind, and together they store Riley's lifetime memories as either being happy memories, angry memories etc.
This brings me on to another important point - the characters. Sometimes, even some of the best films have main/supporting characters that really don't need to be there. Not so with this one. All five of the emotions are important to the film - they all provide solid humour in their own unique ways. The same goes for other supporting characters in the film who I will not mention here, as you may want this to be a surprise if you haven't seen the film yet.
Another excellent point is the key aspect of any film - the plot. I will not spoil anything from the film, don't worry. But the plot of the film essentially sees Riley's emotions struggle to cope with a troubling event that badly impacts Riley's life. The event is not a huge deal by Pixar's standards - there's no death involved like with Finding Nemo or Up, but the way in which the film presents this simple event is part of what makes the film a triumph. Inside Out somehow manages to be perhaps the simplest, and yet the most complex, Pixar film to date, meaning it can be enjoyed immensely by small children, older children, teenagers and adults (parents with children or simply adults who love an animation). This film is easily capable of making you cry with both joy and sadness, which in itself is a key aspect of the film.
Inside Out is not as simple for children to understand as a film like Cars or Toy Story is. But, at least in this reviewer's opinion, Pixar have outdone themselves with their most outstanding release to date. A lot of critics have noted that animation has been in a bit of a funk lately - with Toy Story 3, Cars 2 and Monsters University, as well as Finding Dory, Cars 3, Toy Story 4 and The Incredibles 2 on the horizon, Pixar have started to rely far too much on making sequels and prequels to their films rather than creating new material. So I wouldn't be surprised if you were sceptical about going to see Inside Out. But if you are a classic Pixar fan, I HUGELY recommend that you give Inside Out a try. You will be very glad you did.