Kelsey Mann's "INSIDE OUT 2"
Review by Dennis D. McDonald
Pixar’s INSIDE OUT 2 is simultaneously entertaining and anxiety inducing.
It's entertaining us a tour-de-force of creative animation, effective storytelling, and wild imagination.
It's anxiety inducing because we recognize the emotional turmoil of our own and our own kids’ adolescence.
As with Turning Red, Pixar deals with some complex relationship and emotional issues in a way that anyone who want went through a complex or fraught adolescence will recognize – – including the real unpleasantness.
Of course this is a Disney/Pixar film, so we expect a "happy ending" of sorts, even though the process of getting there does involve some stress over anxiety inducing factors, such as friendship, betrayal, dishonesty, and fear.
One thing the film really gets right is the complexity of emotions and the sheer torture some teens must experience when coming to terms with these emotions.
I saw this in a nearby theater at a showing preceded by a series of kid and youth oriented motion picture trailers. The mindlessness of some of those films was obvious. I certainly don't expect every movie for young people to deal with stress and anxiety, but I give Pixar credit for aiming high and for the most part succeeding. Recommended.
Review copyright (c) by Dennis D. McDonald