A return to top form for Disney/Pixar!

Rating: 10/10 (20 June 2015)

Just saw the newly released Disney/Pixar animated feature film "Inside Out". The critical consensus is spot on. This is an excellent film. I loved it! One of Disney/Pixar's best animated films of their 20 year history. It's a return to top form for Disney/Pixar.
"Inside Out" has that rare combination of qualities for an animated feature film: intelligence, maturity, thoughtful, insightful, perceptive, honest writing, along with richly detailed, imagined animation and characters. And yes, it's also entertaining.
"Inside Out" gets it right, accurately bringing to life the emotions of the mind, in this case, the emotions of an 11 year old girl. Besides being intelligent and entertaining, there are some moments of surprising emotional depth and power, most of them occurring in the second half. This kind of emotional power rarely is achieved in an animated feature film. Disney/Pixar can be rightly proud of what they achieved with "Inside Out". The perception of parenting is also accurately done (true to life) in this film.
The last time I experienced this kind of emotional power and depth in an animated film was with "Up" from 2009, also produced by Disney/Pixar. The audience I saw"Inside Out" with applauded at the end of the film. This was a family based audience on a Saturday matinÃ©e. For an ordinary entertainment driven audience to applaud, speaks of what Disney/Pixar has achieved with "Inside Out".
I found myself actually trying to contain my emotions, as I found myself choked up with emotion during a number of occasions, especially with some of the scenes of the second half of the film. Adults will certainly appreciate and children will enjoy this intelligent, meaningful, richly imagined, entertaining new film from Disney/Pixar. The most important takeaway for children with "Inside Out" is: all emotions have their place and even sadness can be a surprisingly useful and beneficial emotion.