not quite the lightning-in-a-bottle of the first movie, but what it lacks in novelty it makes up for in an ability to hit the ground running and explore this emotional playground without needing to do nearly as much worldbuilding to get the audience onboard. I don't think the highs are quite as high as the original—if anything this feels more like a smaller-scale episode—but it still makes good on the premise and the continued thoughtfulness & imagination. it's an excellent sequel. particularly, I was moved by the fact that the movie doesn't settle on "I'm a good person = ideal mindset" and "I'm not good enough = bad mindset." plenty of people would've seen that as a valid conclusion to draw, but the movie is more interested in the complicated truth: sometimes, you're not a good person, but that's okay. you're complicated. and full of contradictions. and that's part of being alive. I do think it could have been interesting to explore what happens when someone internalizes a belief that is explicitly untrue; the film ends on an "I contain multitudes" theme statement where everything contradictory that Riley believes about herself is held together simultaneously—but what about the belief that "if I'm good at hockey, then I'll have friends"? That feels like a belief that should have been fully dismantled, not simply folded into the fabric of everything else. anyway, the film certainly has plenty of fodder for interesting psychological conversation; for instance, what would have happened if Riley had talked to someone with wisdom (like a therapist or mentor) rather than having to come to all these conclusions herself? does Anxiety deserve any place in our psyche, or should it be thrown out of headquarters? what would the "belief system" of a person who has been completely gaslit or brainwashed into a conspiracy theory look like—and how could the false beliefs be deconstructed? this is such a universal and accessible framework for imagining the internal psyche that it feels like you could really translate it to any situation and achieve interesting results. maybe i'm morbid, but i'd like to see the mind of a really evil person in this style. who would be the primary emotion steering the ship? fear? anger? disgust? what would the islands of personality and the belief system look like? what kind of perverse version of Joy would exist in their head, and how did she become that way? idk. lots of fun food for thought experiments. really loved the bit where Riley comes back to reality from her panic attack and perceives the very tangible, embodied, physical joys of being present again. enjoyed this one!