Inside Out, Upside Down

Rating: 1/10 (29 June 2015)

I have never entered in such a poor review for a Disney film. I am always defending the "Imagineers" and their creative processes. I'm a Floridian..not a true Florida cracker, more of a saltine (or maybe a Triscuit). But, my love for all things Disney ended with Inside Out.
The premise was really great, in concept, but extremely poorly enacted. So, yeah, OK, you've got your emotions, "Joy, Anger, Sadness, Disgust, etc...." Yeah, it's that bad. An etc. Do I really need to say more?
Well, of course, there's more. Riley is THE perfect girl. But really, what she is, is sheltered. A good family. Parents that worship her. A core group of friends and education, extracurricular activities, etc.
Yeah, another etc.
Societal norms and morés dictate that this is really not the case. Having both parents, let alone both parents being married, is an event these days. Sure, we'd all love to believe that those idyllic family structures still exist. But, truly, ask your children, it isn't even close.
So, let's go ahead and move this "perfect" family, because of Dad's job (yeah, cuz that's an original storyline) and plunk em down in Cali from Minnesota. Disney/Pixar's attempts to poke fun at Vegan lifestyles to get the viewer closer to the family is pretty weak. As is the whole system of forming and processing memories.
Leading us all to believe that joy is the most powerful and important emotion. When, in the end, sadness rules the roost. Ummmm, what?
All "core memories" are formed by sadness and touched by joy. Please.
The disconnect between the emotions and the girl is huge. Watching a movie that is supposed to be happening inside this girl is confusing. Riley's actions are so delayed that is clear that we're all watching minutes of dialogue before she reacts. It's distracting. Not to mention pretty lame.
It seems Disney/Pixar kinda realized this and decided to showcase Riley's emotions while she was asleep. Believable. Mmhhmm. Yeah, ummmm, no.
Throw in a couple of distracted parents and stress, not even real stress, a kind of implied stress, and they're you have the whole basis of the film. Pretty shaky.
I saw this film with an 11 and 12 year old. Both girls Riley's age. Now, granted, these girls have great families...but they also have mothers going through terminal illness and fathers that work their trails off to make ends meet. So their emotions run high. But they aren't cry prone girls. And yet, here we were, popcorn, candy, sodas for breakfast watching this horrible film. Both girls in tears and a very well placed f-bomb by yours truly to lighten the mood.
Bottom line? 90 minutes of confusing, sad, disjointed dialogue and about 5 minutes of happy. Never a laugh out loud. Maybe a smile. Maybe.
So, ummmm, what the hell Disney/Pixar? This the trend? If so, take me back to it being a small small world. It's way better than drilling these fake boyfriend thoughts of being our savior into our daughter's head. First were waiting for "our price to come." Now we're relying on fake boyfriends? Please.
How about a girl that can handle herself, her school, her family, and be strong? Not this lame nonsense.