Movie Review: Inside Out 2

Movie Review: Inside Out 2                                                                                                                                           6-15-24

Riley Anderson and her emotions are back, but this time, Headquarters is more crowded: As well as Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger, there’s also the envious Envy, the monotone French-accented Ennui, the super shy Embarrassment, and Anxiety, who’s somehow even more of a wreck than Fear. Feeling that Joy and her original crew aren’t sophisticated enough for the now 13-year-old Riley, Anxiety bottles them up and sends them to be locked up. Now, Joy and her friends have to return to headquarters to stop Anxiety with messing with Riley’s mind in more ways than one.

Inside Out 2 truly is the feel-everything movie of the year with outstanding animation, a story that expands upon the world of the original film, and some really funny jokes.

Since this movie is all about Riley turning 13, this movie really connected to me on a personal level. In this movie, Anxiety has herself and the new Emotions reprogram Riley into a different person. This is what happened to me during the first two years of my teen-hood: Since the other students in my class liked video games, I decided to become a gamer, myself. However, it took away 90-95% of what made me Andrew. Luckily, on August 25th 2011 (when I was 15), fate struck me when I saw a VHS copy of Who Framed Roger Rabbit at the Salvation Army. I bought it, and slowly but surely, I was almost the Andrew people know and love me for today.

Anyway, back to my review of Inside Out 2: If I were to nitpick one thing, I don’t like how some aspects of the mind, like Dream Productions and the Train of Thought, don’t return. But then again, no one really knows what goes inside the human mind, so maybe all that stuff is still in there. I also feel that the Emotions Envy and Nostalgia aren't really necessary to the plot.

Joy riding the Train of Thought in Inside Out 1.

In conclusion, even though it doesn’t hold a candle to the first film, Inside Out 2 is the perfect family movie for the Summer. It has to be better than Despicable Me 4. Do we really need a Despicable Me sequel in which the Minions get superpowers? I said this once, but I’ll say it again: Only give me a Despicable Me sequel if the girls have been aged up, the Minions have been removed (or at least, given less screen time), and have Sergio Pablos return.

Rating: 3.9 stars out of 5

DreamWorks30 Marathon Announcement

With DreamWorks Animation turning 30 this year, I decided to watch all their films when the time comes, as well as the three films from Amblimation*. HOWEVER, there are three films that I will downright skip, and not even an episode of Hailey’s On It will make me change my mind!

Shark Tale (2004)

If anyone were to rank all of DreamWorks’ films, chances are Shark Tale would be at the bottom. Like I said in History of Warner Animation Group Part 2...

https://asateriale.blogspot.com/2023/01/history-of-warner-animation-group-part-2.html

This movie suffers from creepy character designs, mean-spirited and offensive jokes, and a downright unlikable protagonist. I’m baffled at how this film got the Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature.

Shrek the Third (2007)

Like I said in Top 30 Worst CGI Movies Part 1...

https://asateriale.blogspot.com/2017/01/top-30-worst-cgi-movies-of-all-time.html

Shrek the Third focuses much more on comedy than story, and it does more harm than help. The jokes are either stale or disgusting, the plot is a mess, and the characters range from underutilized to rather unlikable. Fun fact: There were going to be five Shrek movies, but after Shrek the Third got such negative reviews, DreamWorks decided that the next Shrek film would be the last.

The Boss Baby: Family Business (2021)

I’ll be reluctant to watch The Boss Baby 1 (though I won’t like it), but I barely survived the sequel! Yes, the animation is impressive, but the story and characters are comparable to The Nut Job! And to make matters worse, Boss Baby 2: Family Business basically demonizes adults by saying that they are responsible for the world’s problems. How would adults in the audience feel about this when they watch the movie? If you want a good cartoon starring babies, just stick with Rugrats. HOWEVER, if there’s one thing I liked from Boss Baby 2, it would be the original song Together We Stand.

The Boss Baby: Family Business (2021) - Together We Stand Scene (7/10) | Movieclips - YouTube

I plan on doing this marathon on August 31st, 2024. Just be warned that it will be A LOT wordier than my Disney100 marathon, since I’ll talk about the history of the company and provide interview excerpts from about 20 movies.

*For those unfamiliar, Amblimation was an animation studio founded by Steven Spielberg. In 1989, after serving as a producer on An American Tail, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and The Land before Time, Spielberg founded Amblimation in London. The studio would produce three movies, which included An American Tail 2: Fievel Goes West (1991), We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993), and Balto (1995). However, all but one of these films were box-office failures, and many of Amblimation's staff would later work at DreamWorks.