Where were you when puberty struck? One day, you’re just a kid, doing regular kid things, and then overnight, puberty just begins. That is the big question behind the sequel to Inside Out that has swept the nation. That’s right, I’m reviewing a theatrical release. Shocker! As such, I have a little bit of a spoiler for just my blind fam coming here to talk about audio description. In my theatre, the force was not strong with the bluetooth in my receiver, and short of wandering the theater like I’m in a Verizon commercial trying to get cell reception, I just had to go with what I got. I literally waited until the end, and it crackled on the name. I can tell you, I waited and was rewarded with a cute post-credits sequence. So, there you go. I don’t want to drop the hammer on something that kept cutting in and out.
But, there was still about 75% of it there, which means I adored the hell out of this. Inside Out 2 is easily the best Pixar film since Luca, since Coco, really since Inside Out. Despite Pete Docter handing over the reigns, not to mention that the great Michael Giacchino didn’t write the score, this lives up to the hype. I’ve seen the negative reviews, and a chunk of them aren’t even valid, and come from people who have been trolling every single Disney project like it’s their job.
Riley is older, and yes, she still plays hockey. This seemed to blow the mind of at least one film critic, because he didn’t know girls played hockey. I tried pointing out that this is brought up multiple times in the 2015 original, and I was called a shill. go figure. Watch the first movie, dumbass. But, Riley is still into hockey, and she’s headed off to a hockey camp with her two best friends when suddenly… puberty strikes!
This comes as a shock also to joy (Amy Poehler), who has been functioning as the main emotion for Riley until this point, but has found a perfect balance with Anger (Lewis Black), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader wanted too much money so Tony Hale is doing a Bill Hader impersonation), and Disgust (Also, Mindy Kaling wanted more money, son they hired a lesser known talent to mimic her voice). When puberty strikes, a construction team comes in and changes the console around to welcome the new emotions, led by Anxiety (Maya Hawke). Anxiety has a very different feeling of who Riley needs to be at Sumer camp, fueled by Riley’s best friends revealing they are going to a different school next year. Anxiety is all about Riley impressing the new kids who will be at her school, while joy is afraid that Riley abandoning her friends will cause her to lose her sense of self. Anxiety eventually sends Joy and her gang away to the Deep Dark Secrets area to become repressed emotions, and she and her new crew take over. Much like the first film, there has to be a balance, so Joy and her team have to fight to get back to the control room, through physical manifestations of things like a Brain Storm, and Stream Of Consciousness.
I did cry watching the first Inside Out. The marketing on that did an excellent job hiding Bing Bong, and it got me. Here, there’s no Bing Bong, but still some fun moments, and some heavy ones. Teens should love a lesson on being true to who you are instead of chasing popularity.
Some new little characters pop up along the way, and there’s one moment that I was dying laughing in the theater. For anyone who has ever sat through one of those children’s shows that seems to want the kids to shout at the screen, this movie is for you. I honestly have no problems with this film. Even the replacements did a good job. Sure, the new director, and the new composer are playing with the mold left behind, but this could have gone so wrong. A lot of the Pixar sequels are inferior, even if they are entertaining. This one found a truly perfect way to continue Riley’s story, and if the right people got together, they could feasibly do it again.
And to Bill Hader and Mindy Kaling, your loss. I’m sure missing out on the residuals from the highest grossing film of the year sucks. The people who sound like them did fine. I’m salty, because I don’t like the fact that Hader and Kaling think they’re worth more than Smith and Black. Their characters had almost nothing to do, and even in this film, Fear and Disgust honestly still do less than Sadness and Anger. Paul Walter Hauser voices Embarrassment and I think he had one line. He also has an Emmy. June Squibb pops in with a cute cameo, being an Oscar nominee. I just don’t get it on the pay dispute side.
What I got from the audio description was fine, and I was able to follow this with my headphones dropping in and out. The themes here are poignant and are meant to be relatable for parents and kids. It is yet another home run for Pixar, one they haven’t truly had in a while.
In preparation, I watched Inside Out for the 9th or 10th time, and the movie is still terrific, and on Disney Plus. It has audio description by the Media Access Group, and is narrated by Leilani Jones Wilmore. So, check out the first one if you haven’t seen it, before you see the sequel.
This is now my new favorite of 2024, and it could take a while to dethrone it. Thank God they made a good film. Disney needed this win.
Final Grade: A
