Movie Review: Inside Out

Whoever says that Pixar are losing their edge when it comes to imagination and creative film concepts, they have not seen their latest masterpiece Inside Out.

Inside Out plays with the concept of emotions and how they control us. Literally controlling us. As in using a control board in your head to make sure you feel the right kind of emotion for the relevant situation. It's a generally old concept but Pixar manages to make it feel fresh and brilliant with their stellar writing and characterization.

Prepare to feel feelings!

Inside out features the emotions of Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust, all of which live inside the head of a girl named Riley. We see the emotions come to life as soon as Riley is born, we see them create memories of Riley and have them stored in memory spheres, each colored according to the emotion that memory is associated with. However, my favorite concept that Inside Out features is the growth and conception of a personality within an individual. Whenever a person experiences a big moment in their life, a 'core memory' is created. These memories are the most important in Inside Out and serve as (for the lack of a better term) batteries for the Islands of Personality. Riley has a core memory of her enjoying hockey at a young age, and now an Island of Personality has sprung up in her mind that focusses on Hockey. It's these islands that make Riley who she is and it's up to her emotions to keep them in check at 'Head' quarters.

get it? Head Quarters? heh heh

But what happens when an individual experiences something so earth shattering that it changes who they are? The plot of Inside Out centers around Riley and her sudden move to San Francisco, away from her former life and friends. As a consequence, Riley's personality starts to shift and her emotions have to deal with a massive change that they have never experienced before. Suddenly joyful memories are turning blue from sadness and the Islands of Personality are crumbling. What follows is a genuine roller coaster of feelings as we explore the inner workings of the human mind as imagined by Pixar.

The Islands of Personality are just one of the many inventive ideas Pixar showcase in Insaide Out

Joy and Sadness are two main characters throughout Inside Out (besides Riley of course). Both emotions are portrayed extremely well in that Joy is...well...joyful She sees the positive side of things, she wants Riley to stay happy, she never loses her smile. Sadness on the other hand is always sad. A pessimist, easily hurt, fragile and...well...a downer. What we have here is an example of depth through simplicity as we see the two emotions interact with each other to showcase their unique and important roles as emotions. Ultimately, the movie teaches the viewer an important lesson when it comes to these two, polarizing emotions. I will not reveal this lesson as I feel it will definitely spoil the movie, but don't worry, Pixar are masters when it comes to providing powerful morals in their films.

Everyone's played 'The Floor is Lava' at one point of their life right?

Inside Out features, once again, top notch animation, especially in the lighting department. Finding Nemo, in my opinion, was an incredible showcase of Pixar's lighting technology, what with the realistic portrayal of light through water. Inside Out, however, is a more subtle approach by limiting the impressive lighting to the memory spheres and the different colors they emit. I personally found the lighting in Inside Out to be one of Pixars finest because of the subtlety. On top of that, each emotion emit a colored light that can be seen as an 'aura' around them, gently lighting the environment where ever they go. It's a pleasing feast for the eyes that will be difficult to rival.

Having memories shown as movie clips is an old idea, but Pixar manages to make it feel fresh again

Besides the visual prowess of Inside Out, Pixar once again proves that when it comes to creating a well thought out narrative and emotional roller coaster of a story, they are second to none. Inside Out may be like your typical children's movie on the surface, I can guarantee it has plenty of substance for young and old alike. There are important lessons that adults can continue to learn from a movie such as this, and it's something I believe is incredibly important and often lost when it comes to children's films. What I'm getting at is that children films should follow Pixar's steps and create compelling stories that will not only be important for children as they grow up, but also be looked back on as adults with fondness and to be reminded of things we may have lost along the way to adulthood. Inside Out does this masterfully.

I cannot recommend Inside Out enough. If you love Pixar films then you'll be in for an incredible treat. If you're about to watch it for the first time, I envy you, for you get to experience watching the film for the first time. I wish I could erase my memory and go watch the film once more for the first time, but alas I can only rely on my feelings and memories of the experience. Inside Out is such a fantastically paced film, it's such a powerful film, it's such a fun film that everyone needs to go see this when they can. Bravo Pixar, you've done it again.

Verdict: 5/5