Good Concept, Underwhelming Execution

Rating: 6/10 (1 February 2016)

Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK)
Rating: 2.3/5 stars
I really don't what all the fuss and universal praise for "Inside Out" is about. It's a juvenile attempt at trying to portray elements as complex as human emotions and our state of mind in different situations.
Sure, there were some good scenes and likable characters, and some plot elements do hit the mark, but, overall, Directors Pete Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen, and their cowriters Meg LeFauve and Josh Cooley tried tempering the whole gamut of human emotions, and end up ignoring or stifling the deeper aspects of our psyche and personalities. It would have been fine if they had stopped at portraying the lead protagonist, who was a little girl, in that light. But, when they also showed her parents to be reactive in the same manner, you do sense something fundamentally wrong with a film attempting to unravel our emotional psyche without having the gall to touch upon all our emotions. Even when it came to our protagonist, it would've made better sense to have showed more complex emotions lying dormant inside a young girl. For instance, what happened to love, hatred, affection, despair, passion, regret, relief, envy, contempt, courage, contentment and similar other feelings. Everything cannot be encapsulated and simplified under the five basic emotions displayed in the film: joy, sadness, fear, disgust, and anger.
Perhaps, the filmmakers didn't want to delve so deep, this being a kid's film and all. But, they always targeted the film at both adults and children right from the promotional campaigns, and the film itself emanates that vibe of wanting to cut across age demographics. And, therein lies the inherent problem with "Inside Out" - in trying to please all sections of the audience, it ends up being to heavy and cluttered for kids, and too immature and insouciant for adults. Even if I choose to ignore these obvious shortcomings, "Inside Out" is still a weakly made film. The narrative gets unbelievably messy in the second half and most of the plot elements are all over the place. More surprising is how many of the attempts at humor - usually Pixar's forte - seem labored and flat. To put it bluntly, "Inside Out" takes some good ideas and executes them with middling results and sans any conviction.