theburkenation’s review published on Letterboxd:
"Joy, you've made a lot of mistakes, and you'll make a whole lot more in the future, but if you let that stop you, we might as well lie down and give up."
Nine years ago, Pixar released one of their best movies. In my opinion. Despite my love for the first film, I always saw a criticism of it floating around that I believe has some weight: the human characters have no agency because they are entirely ruled by their emotions. If you show something like that to a child, what will that teach them?
Inside Out 2 neatly addresses that criticism. In this film, the heroine, Riley, learns instead to call upon her emotions instead of letting them completely control her. She is getting older. She's getting through puberty, she's maturing mentally, and her emotions are maturing as well. Amy Poehler, Lewis Black, and Phyllis Smith reprise their roles as Joy, Anger, and Sadness, featuring the new casting of Tony Hale and Liza Lapira as Fear and Disgust respectively, and an entirely new cast of emotions: Ayo Edebiri as Envy, Paul Walter Hauser as Embarrassment, Adèle Exarchopoulos as Ennui, and Maya Hawke in a spotlight-stealing performance as Anxiety. Every vocal delivery the actors give is great across the board. The emotions, old and new, come into conflict over control of Riley as she goes to a hockey camp before the new school year starts. The new emotions cast the old emotions out of Headquarters, and now Joy, Anger, Fear, Disgust, and Sadness must work together to help Riley rediscover her sense of self. Inside Out 2 is a powerful, life-affirming film that shows a Pixar working at it's strongest.
In the nine years between the two Inside Out films, Pixar's animation has only gotten more impressive. The writing has gotten more nuanced. I was touched by this film. As far as Pixar sequels go, I can confidently say this is one of the better ones. Why it's one of the better ones is also the reason it only gets a four-star review from me instead of a five. Inside Out 2 has one, major, glaring flaw that holds it back from being an all-timer: It's literally just the exact same movie as Inside Out. The plot is the same: emotions are kicked out of Headquarters and have to come back. The emotional beats are the same. The story structure of the scenes are the same. Even the lesson learned at the end is essentially the same: it takes all parts of a person to make them who they are, and even Anxiety serves a purpose and doesn't deserve to be villainized. I think this only works BECAUSE it's been nine years in-between releases, but viewers watching these movies back-to-back from home might start to fall asleep during an Inside Out double bill.
While I definitely recommend this film, and I think it's some of the strongest material Disney has put out in a while, it feels more like a reworking or patch of the first film. I adore the nuance put into this film. I'll happily be watching it again. It's a STRONG movie, but I think the concept of the world of Inside Out has been stretched to its limits. If the series ends here, which it should, this is the strongest possible ending it could have. Check this one out, even if you haven't seen the first one!
