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