By CYNTHIA BIDDLECOMB
Los Alamos
“Inside Out 2” filled the New Reel Theater at SALA on its opening night, Friday. In fact, a few of the last groups of folks to arrive had to split up just to find seats. Los Alamos wasn’t alone in this; word has it that this new Pixar film is filling theater seats across the country.
This is a film for all ages, good, animated fun with insightful, psychological underpinnings. The story reprises the role of the emotions in the brain of a girl who is just becoming a teenager. Parents of teenagers will easily relate, while the youngest parents in the theater may cringe when they see what they have to look forward to.
Recap: The 2015 original film, “Inside Out”, introduced audiences to Riley, an 8-year-old, only-child, living with her parents in Minnesota, and beginning to excel at playing hockey. When Riley learns that her family must move to California for her father’s job, her emotions are understandably all over the place. In that first installment, we met Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust, all of whom run the emotional control console in Riley’s brain, try to save happy experiences for Riley’s memory banks, and help her negotiate the ups and downs of life. (In fact, viewing that film before this one would give the viewer a leg up.)
In the 2024 film, Inside Out 2, Riley turns 13, and suddenly the PUBERTY button on the emotions console lights up. Five new emotions show up to take over after a new, expanded console is installed; they are Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, Ennui/Boredom, and Nostalgia. Riley helps win her team’s hockey game, and there, she and her friends are scouted by the high school coach who invites them to hockey camp. Mixing with the high school hockey players has Riley trying on new behaviors and forgetting who she really is.
Meanwhile, in the control center, the simpler emotions are sent away by the new-to-puberty emotions. They work together, enlisting the help of some long sealed away childhood favorites, to try and reclaim for Riley her sense of self. A clever plot!
At the end of the movie, as the credits begin to roll, a side screen opens with Riley back from hockey camp being asked by her parents how the week went. The emotional control consoles in both Mom and Dad’s brains weigh in on her response. (That’s pretty funny.) And if you stay to the end of the credits, there is a follow-up scene worthy of another laugh.
The voices for these animated characters are headed by Amy Poehler as Joy, Maya Hawke as Anxiety, and Kensington Tallman as Riley. With four psychologists consulting on the film, Writer-Director Kelsey Mann and two other writers knock this one out of the park.
Inside Out 2 is “Rated PG for some thematic elements.” If you’ve ever been a teenager or raised one, this movie will tickle your imagination, bring back memories, help you to better understand the age group, and hopefully make you laugh.