Inside Out 2 (2024)

Family/Animation/Adventure
Rated U
Disney +

It should go without saying that if you haven’t seen Inside Out you should (read my review and then) go and watch it before seeing Inside Out 2; for more than one reason. I was a big fan of Inside Out, even going so far as to call it my favourite Pixar film in my review back in 2018. On reflection, that was hyperbole, probably. Soul is great, although that came after Inside Out. However, overlooking the Toy Story films is borderline sacrilege. 

Picking up some years later, young Riley is now teenage Riley and about to run spotty, braces face first into the horrors of puberty. Inside Out 2: Attack of the Hormones! In order to properly represent these newfangled brain complications, new, more complex emotions set up camp in Riley’s brain and obviously totally fuck her up.

Now, I hated being a teenager and I’ve said it before that I find it pretty hard to connect with films about their issues. Riley’s new emotions, led by Anxiety, are mostly pretty negative and they push Joy and the other more basic human feelings out of the control centre in Riley’s brain. The battle for power over her behaviour and inevitable learnings and compromise form Inside Out 2’s conflict.

The problem for me, apart from not really giving a shit about whether Riley fits in with the cool girls, is that the new characters aren’t really very interesting and don’t offer much past just not being the ones from the far superior original. Inside Out 2 is all a bit chaotic and not really very funny, or at least comparatively so.

Bedsit it?

If you have Disney + and liked Inside Out, sure. I didn’t hate Inside Out 2, I just didn’t think it was anything special or really has any powerful messages which work for both children and adults- like its older sibling does. Tweenage girls will probably identify with Inside Out 2 a lot more than I am able to, and let’s be honest that’s how it should be. 6/10

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