Disney Pixar spent five years making their newest masterpiece, Inside Out. Five years well spent. Inside Out is everything Pixar fans might have hoped it would be because it satisfies just about every emotional chord tuned tightly in a person’s heart and mind.
It will tug at your heart strings, it will spark a fire in your heart, and it will fill your heart with joy, and it’s main character, Joy, played by Amy Poehler (Parks & Rec), is largely responsible. But Poehler is just one of the five intricately written dynamics featured inside of this 11-year-old girl’s head. You also have Fear, played by Bill Hader (Superbad, SNL), Disgust, played by Mindy Khaling (The Mindy Project), Anger, played by Lewis Black (The Daily Show), and last but certainly not least, Sadness, played by Phyllis Smith (The Office).
This is a cast who were all thoughtfully chosen to play the emotions they were selected to portray and were all able to bring a comedic element to lighten the often times very serious notions the movie’s concept employs: We are all driven by these five basic emotions and what dire of a state we are left in if we happen to lose our connection to even one of them. In Inside Out, the point is made that sadness is equally as important as joy. Sadness can give us the power to understand and relate to other people’s pain and lead us to reach out to others as they go through times of stress or weakness.
Pixar makes its movies for adults with the assumption that children will be watching, and Inside Out is no exception to this. Inside Out is rated PG, for some parental guidance is suggested, because, let’s be honest, Anger and the guy who plays him, is a little rough around the edges. But overall, it was the perfect fit. Lewis Black has mastered his art of screaming and yelling political satire and it was about time someone wrote him for a children’s animated character, who, undoubtedly, like the rest of the five emotions in the film, will be marketed in many advertisements and toys over the coming years post the movie’s release in theaters this weekend.
There’s not much more I can say about Inside Out other than to tell you to go see it in theaters for yourself and to totally disregard that PG rating and just trust that you, your whole family, and what ever clique of friends you run in will totally enjoy this movie. Expect nothing less than beautiful animation, deep, philosophical content, active dialog along with wondrously creative concepts, and etcetera etcetera – You know, the usual Pixar stuff.
Check out Disney Pixar’s Inside Out in theaters this weekend and if you aren’t yet convinced, check out the trailer below for a quick peek at what you might be in for:
