(We've reached a point in the summer where it is possible that you have not seen some of these films, so potential spoilers are present from here on)
On numerous occasions throughout the Summer of Magic, I have highlighted the excellence of a film's cast. Pixar has always had the incredible ability to cast the perfect actor for the perfect role, and they truly outdid themselves with Inside Out. I would have loved to be able to sit in on some of those conversations regarding how they were planning to cast these five unique emotions for the film because whatever they worked out was a sheer stroke of genius. Amy Poehler (Joy), Phyllis Smith (Sadness), Bill Hader (Fear), Mindy Kaling (Disgust), and Lewis Black (Anger) absolutely nail these roles, and they are joined by more cast members who nail their roles too. Richard Kind (Bing Bong), Kaitlyn Dias (Riley), Diane Lane (Mom), and Kyle MacLachan (Dad) round out this picture perfect cast, and their work helps elevate Inside Out to tremendous heights. When these knockout performances team up with the stunningly beautiful script and the magic of Pixar, the final result is nothing short of extraordinary. The screenplay for Inside Out, based on a story concept by Pete Docter (I want to be him when I grown up. And I want to be Brad Bird. And John Lasseter. And Andrew Stanton. And Lee Unkrich. I love Pixar's directors, if you couldn't already tell) and Ronnie Del Carmen with a script by Docter, Meg LaFauve, and Josh Cooley, is one of the most mature screenplays I have ever seen in terms of humor and, appropriately, emotion. Being inside of a teenage girl's mind literally allows for the possibilities to be endless, and as a viewer, being able to witness these masters of their art at work firing on all cylinders is a wonder to behold.
This phenomenal screenplay works so well because of the film's terrific characters. I will detail my love for Poehler's Joy in more detail below (so you know what that means), but I will say that now, a discussion about Pixar's best characters cannot be complete without the inclusion of Joy, deserved to be mentioned in the same breath as Woody, Dory, and Remy. Phyllis Smith turns in a career-best performance as Sadness. Sadness is the odd emotion out in Headquarters; the rest of the gang is just no quite sure what to do with her and her particular skill set as it pertains to Riley. Smith expertly demonstrates this desire of Sadness to be involved in Riley's life, and when the film's emotional climax occurs (which will also be discussed more below), Sadness and therefore Smith take center stage and shine bright. Hader's Fear is the film's greatest comedic relief, mainly due to the physical comedy at work whenever he is on the screen. Hader's voice acting coupled with the genius of the animators blend seamlessly to create yet another legendary character. Kaling's Disgust and Black's Anger are simply stellar as well, flawlessly bringing comedy and emotion to one of Pixar's most hilarious and emotional films to date ("Congratulations, San Francisco! You've ruined pizza!"). The Anderson family is so well developed overall, especially Riley who is impeccably voiced by Dias here. The surprising legend from this comes in the form of Riley's former imaginary friend, Bing Bong. Richard Kind has been around the Pixar block before, but he has legitimately never been better. He steals the show upon his arrival, all the way up to his tragic sacrifice to ensure Joy's safe return to Headquarters ("Take her to the moon for me, okay?" gets me every single time and is actually getting me right now). There is not a bad character whatsoever in this ensemble. In fact, there is not even just a good character in this ensemble because every one of them is great, becoming instant icons and cinematic legends.
I referenced earlier that Pixar's possibilities in this film were truly endless, and the animators really showoff in the best possible way in Inside Out. I can imagine these unrivaled artists having an absolute blast coming up with ingenious idea after ingenious idea of what this cerebral environment would look like. Pixar has always benefited from the excess of imagination and creativity that abounds at their studio, and that fact is extremely prevalent in Inside Out. From Headquarters to Long-Term Memory to Imagination Land to the Personality Islands, more so than ever before, Inside Out is a masterclass in animated storytelling and visuals. I just cannot stop my jaw from dropping to the floor quite often whenever I look around at this amazing universe they have created. Also, has Michael Giacchino ever composed a bad score? In Inside Out, he continues to top himself. This score is not as rampant as some of his previous Pixar works such as The Incredibles, but that doesn't mean that his score loses any affect at all in eliciting emotion and raising adrenaline. Oftentimes relying on the power of subtlety, Giacchino's simple, yet ever so powerful score is one of the countless highlights to be enjoyed in this cinematic masterpiece.
We have become accustomed to Pixar challenging us with their daring messages; that is actually one of the major keys to their success because their films appeal to children and adults simultaneously. I have lauded Pixar's thematic material often in previous reviews, and I must do the same now because Inside Out's message is one of the studio's most ambitious one to date. Joy is obsessed with making sure that Riley is happy all day, every day. However, instead of potentially sugarcoating the film by allowing Joy to fulfill her quest, Pixar boldly proclaims that Sadness is just as integral to the growing up process as Joy, Fear, Anger, and Disgust are. In a powerful scene that I will discuss in more detail below, Pixar takes Inside Out's to uncharted thematic heights in the grandest way imaginable. It is wholly appropriate that a film about emotions is one of Pixar's most emotional films ever, engrossing us, the viewer, into every minute detail of the action while also igniting the tear ducts to work overtime by the film's conclusion due to the insane amount of laughter and the heartbreak-to-breakthrough moment for our characters.
I am simply running out of adjectives and additional phrases to describe the greatness of Inside Out. A little over a year ago, I watched this film for the first time in theaters, and I left that viewing knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that this film will go down in history as not only one of Pixar's best films, not only one of the best animated films ever, but one of the best films ever period, animated or otherwise. Never has a film made me feel so, well, joyful.
Rating: 10/10
Historical Significance: Psychologists were heavily consulted during the process of writing the script. Pixar even invited renowned psychologist Paul Ekman, who is a pioneer in the study of emotions and their relation to facial expressions, to brief the crew on the nature of emotions (Ekman also released a fascinating slideshow on his website entitled "Parents' Guide to Inside Out," and I highly recommend you take a look at it here). One major aspect that was incorporated into the story that was applauded for its accuracy by various psychologist is the conversion of short-term memory to long-term. Psychologists believe that this process occurs in real life while we are sleeping, and in Inside Out, that is exactly what transpires. Furthermore, Inside Out is an extremely personal film for director Pete Docter. The story was inspired by Docter watching his own daughter experience a multitude of difficulties while growing up, and Docter desired to make this film so he could better understand what his daughter was going through. Additionally, one of the film's many great scenes is immediately after Joy and Sadness have left Headquarters and Riley's mom is asking her a number of questions about her day, much to the dismay of Riley. This is when we get some insight into the emotions of Riley's parents, leading to her dad "putting the foot down" after Riley's string of sassy and snarky responses (Docter actually voices Riley's Dad's Anger in that scene). Docter claims that this scene was inspired by a personal experience in his home with his daughter. He later stated that Inside Out was "one of the most challenging [films he] had ever put together."
Behind the Scenes: Pixar eventually narrowed down the potential emotions to appear in this film to five, but the final five were not decided upon overnight. In fact, the writers considered including twenty-seven emotions with such possibilities as Pride, Surprise, and Trust ultimately being cut. They cut it down to five to avoid plot complications, and when those cuts were made, they quickly got to work on casting. When director Pete Docter first proposed the story for the film to John Lasseter, Lasseter stated, "Imagine the fun we're going to have when it comes to casting! We could get people like Lewis Black as Anger!" Of course, Lewis Black ended up being cast as Anger, and in order to convince the legendary comedian to join the project, Pixar apparently sent him a box of some of their previous films, suggesting that Black might be unaware of what Pixar is. Black said in the aftermath of this occurrence that Pixar "thought [he] was just some sort of recluse." Black loved Pixar and signed on for Inside Out almost immediately. He was the studio's first and only choice for the role. For Mindy Kaling, the voice of Disgust, the entire production process was an emotionally satisfying experience, even during the recruitment process. In her own words, Kaling said this about reading the script for the first time: "When I was asked to do this, the script was amazing. I went to Pixar and I cried. I was just in a meeting with these guys and they showed me the story and I started weeping." Kaling reportedly told Pete Docter and producer Jonas Rivera, "I think it's great that you guys are making a film that shows it's difficult to grow up and that it's okay to be sad about it." Docter simply responded, "Quick! Write that down!" The screenplay for Inside Out would receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay while the film itself took home the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
Favorite Character: I previously applauded every character in this film as each one was a part of one of Pixar's greatest ensembles to date, but Joy is without question my favorite character from Inside Out. While the character animation for Joy is downright inspired and the messages proclaimed through her actions are even more so, Joy becomes one of my favorite characters in the Pixar canon because of Amy Poehler's exceptional voice acting. Has there ever been a more perfect casting choice in the history of the studio? I don't think so because Poehler is Joy. From the beginning, we cannot help but admire Joy's persistence to ensure Riley's happiness. Even in the face of certain adversity, Joy always seems to find that allusive silver lining and turn the tide for the better. However, what elevates Joy into elite company among the Pixar icons is that stark change in perspective upon the realization that Sadness is actually the key to unlocking Riley's true joy. Joy grows to understand that it is literally impossible to be happy all of the time; we all need a little sadness, anger, fear, and disgust in our lives because that is just the way we are wired. Poehler is able to effortlessly proclaim that message through her voice (with some tremendous assistance from the filmmakers and animators, of course). Her ability to portray Joy in an exuberant manner while also having the full capability to elicit those signature Pixar emotions in the viewer is truly awe-inspiring. Only Pixar could take an emotion and make it one of their most complex and well developed characters to date, and only Pixar could take an emotion and challenge us in a profoundly powerful way.
Favorite Scene: I almost went with the opening minutes of Inside Out as my favorite scene because of the fantastic introduction to all of the characters with Michael Giacchino's sublime score also making its presence felt, but once again, Pixar makes it hard to pick against their emotional climax. My favorite scene from the film begins when Joy and Sadness ultimately making it back to Headquarters upon Joy realizing Riley's need for Sadness. Sadness is able to convince Riley to get off the bus bound for Minnesota as she was running away and return home. Riley's arrival back home is one of Pixar's crowing achievements. As Joy steps back and allows Sadness to take control, Pixar yet again finds a way to reduce us all to tears in a inventive way. Riley finally confesses to her parents that she wants to move back home with her friends and her sports team. She has been hiding these feelings due to her fear that her parents will get angry, but in a moment of honesty, her parents actually confess their desire to return home as well. Kaitlyn Dias (Riley) and Kyle MacLachlan (Dad) are spectacular in this scene, authentically delivering those brilliant lines with relative ease. While I am not a parent, I can only imagine what parents are feeling watching this scene unfold because even I am an emotional wreck as tears begin to run down Riley's face (I know it's probably not surprising at this point in the summer that Pixar's signature emotional moment turns me into a mess, but I digress). As the scene shifts back to Headquarters, we see a new core memory appear, but this time, there is unique blend of joy and sadness. In that moment, Joy and the rest of the gang understands that in order to ensure Riley's happiness every day, they must work together as one emotional unit, and that is such a timely and important message to proclaim. I put this scene in the same category as the opening twelve minutes of Up and the final scene of Toy Story 3 as one of Pixar's most emotionally brilliant scenes in the studio's history, and one of the best sequences ever period. By the time this scene rolls around, Inside Out is already a classic, but this scene takes it to masterpiece level.Updated Ranking: I initially ranked Inside Out fairly high in the immediate aftermath of its release, but I was worried that I was simply going to be caught as a prisoner of the moment and that opinion would eventually change upon additional viewings. Thankfully, though, my initial thoughts have since been confirmed, and Inside Out still stands as one of my favorite Pixar films to date.
- Toy Story 3
- The Incredibles
- Toy Story
- Inside Out
- Finding Nemo
- Up
- Ratatouille
- Wall-E
- Monsters Inc.
- Toy Story 2
- Brave
- Monsters University
- A Bug's Life
- Cars
- Cars 2
Tomorrow, Pixar goes from the mind of a teenage girl to the prehistoric land of the dinosaurs in The Good Dinosaur!
-Cody Fleenor
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