Makes you look at life differently.

Rating: 8/10 (31 March 2016)

I was unable to stop myself from molding the ideas in this movie into my own life after watching it, but I think that was the intent. Even if you didn't enjoy it, it would probably be pretty hard not to think about what your own core memories and islands of personality look like and how your emotional headquarters function. It makes you a much more self- conscious person and makes you re-think certain times in your life. I couldn't tell you what any of my core memories are, but I can attest that moving to a new place can throw you off emotionally, which is part of why I wanted to write this review. I've moved six times in my childhood, and I don't think it's a coincidence that the most difficult one came when I was about the same age as Riley is. Granted, I never had any hugely dramatic moment where everything fell apart, but since it was her first time moving, it makes sense that Riley went through her transformation in a week and had that emotional breakdown in class. That moment when Sadness changes the emotion of the core memory is reflective of Riley coming to terms with the fact that she will never be able to experience that again.
This was what made the movie so interesting for me to watch even in scenes that really only showed how Joy and Sadness were moving around Riley's mind. Where the two emotions go or what they do don't really matter, but all of the development we get from Joy and Sadness is really development for Riley. When Joy resists the other emotions and tries to take over, as with the makeshift hockey game, that's Riley trying to hide from the insecurity she feels when she isn't happy. But it seems that the other emotions are able to take control when they feel like they know what's best, all except Sadness. Almost Riley's whole life has been defined by happiness, so she doesn't know how to be sad. Then, she learns how to subconsciously through the ultimate loss of Bing-Bong.
I think this is a great thing to touch upon, especially coming from Disney since you wouldn't expect them to promote anything but joy. Most of the people who enjoy Disney movies have the same complex as Riley where they don't know how to be sad, and it's no wonder. Parents, both in life and in the movie, feel like there's something wrong if their kids aren't happy and are often saying that optimism and positive attitudes are the way to go. But this movie is saying that the trick is to be able to channel all emotions in a healthy way, not to suppress them. Though most of us wish all our memories were "yellow-tinted", we need those other emotions to motivate us to act or work through problems. Plus, too much of an emotion can lead to issues like sadness becoming depression or laziness, fear becoming paranoia, joy feeding an unhealthy addiction, disgust escalating into arrogance, and anger becoming hateful. Often dystopian literature shows how societies can become evil if ruled by emotion. Brave New World shows a nation ruled by joy, the Giver and V for Vendetta by fear, Snowpiercer, Gattaca, and Hunger Games by disgust, Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 by anger, and Equilibrium by no emotion at all. Some of those comparisons might not make a lot of sense, but I'm being a little liberal with my interpretations so they probably won't match yours.
I was glad that Disney was the one to bring this idea to the big screen, because I feel like some other studio's animation counterparts might have gotten too caught up in clever jokes to throw in and detract from the theme. Certainly there were some mind jokes here, but the only time I felt like they went too far was in the dream sequence. It worked for the plot, but it wasn't original or amusing enough to not contribute at all to the theme. Otherwise, I found most of the jokes genuinely funny and was only annoyed a couple of times by the humor. The script did well with pacing and the dialogue was decent, even if their portrayal of middle schoolers was a little off in my opinion. I liked how they made the dad's headquarters work like a blend of NASA and a war room. The voice actors were pretty well cast, and I especially liked Bill Hader as fear.
People talk about how a lot of Disney movies can accommodate audiences of all ages, which is an assessment I often disagree with, but I think it is mostly true here. All of us have had our islands of personality collapse or whatever at some point, so we've all been here, and we all know what it's like to feel emotional, so the story is easier to relate to than other acclaimed works like Up, Nemo, or Lion King. There are some valid gripes that can be made about it, and you can read other reviews to see those, but I thought it totally deserved the best animated Oscar, maybe even best animated movie ever. Normally, I don't like animated movies even those that are well done, but I would encourage most people to go and see this. It may not be any more entertaining or intelligent than other animated films, but it will alter your perspective on life at least a little. Overall Rating: 8.3/10.