Inside Out 2 (2024)
June 17, 2024 3:56 AM - Subscribe
Teenager Riley's mind headquarters is undergoing a sudden demolition to make room for something entirely unexpected: new Emotions! Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust, who've long been running a successful operation by all accounts, aren't sure how to feel when Anxiety shows up. And it looks like she's not alone.
I finally saw this one: I thought it was pretty well done, with some nitpicky caveats below.
First: I don't know if it was my theatre, but some of the scenes were kind of blurry, which leads me to believe that some of the digital effects were cutting edge, and will look absolutely amazing 10 years (or so) from now, or when screens can render what they were putting out. It has almost like sports motion-blur. It was a regular digital theatre, and I've never noticed it in any other movie, but IDK?
The story was good, even though it did copy the first kinda. I thought the anxiety case was really well done - I don't want to spoil, but I know people who are exactly like that scene even now, well past puberty.
The special guest - I wish they could have gotten her instead of a fake version. My kids are at starting teenage years and still do love her, even though she's for 'babies'.
Watch all the way to the end of the credits to find out the secret. It's a final scene afterwards. It's not anything groundbreaking or even particularly interesting.
I don't get why the named Ennui 'Ennui' instead of just 'Boredom', considering she didn't have many lines, and the joke about her name was dumb.
Here's my caveat: IMO, it felt like the movie wasn't for 13 year olds, but rather those younger imagining what 13 would be like. In that, I thought the main emotion was a bit overdone, considering Riley played sports and they break up classes in like the 5th grade, and no way that in a city like SF that she hasn't lost tons of friends - life is just kind of transient and people move. That part just didn't ring true to me. It also only barely touched on the true hit with puberty and changing schools - the idea that literally everything you like is wrong and childish. Especially when talking to much older kids. They kind of touched on it with the music thing, but blew right past without thinking about it too much.
But no, it was just one thing rather than questioning her entire identity (being a hockey playing girl) which I thought made the story 'lighter' than it could have been. It's Pixar - it pushes emotional buttons, but the end was never in doubt. I just thought it could have been great than 'good'.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:01 PM on June 19
First: I don't know if it was my theatre, but some of the scenes were kind of blurry, which leads me to believe that some of the digital effects were cutting edge, and will look absolutely amazing 10 years (or so) from now, or when screens can render what they were putting out. It has almost like sports motion-blur. It was a regular digital theatre, and I've never noticed it in any other movie, but IDK?
The story was good, even though it did copy the first kinda. I thought the anxiety case was really well done - I don't want to spoil, but I know people who are exactly like that scene even now, well past puberty.
The special guest - I wish they could have gotten her instead of a fake version. My kids are at starting teenage years and still do love her, even though she's for 'babies'.
Watch all the way to the end of the credits to find out the secret. It's a final scene afterwards. It's not anything groundbreaking or even particularly interesting.
I don't get why the named Ennui 'Ennui' instead of just 'Boredom', considering she didn't have many lines, and the joke about her name was dumb.
Here's my caveat: IMO, it felt like the movie wasn't for 13 year olds, but rather those younger imagining what 13 would be like. In that, I thought the main emotion was a bit overdone, considering Riley played sports and they break up classes in like the 5th grade, and no way that in a city like SF that she hasn't lost tons of friends - life is just kind of transient and people move. That part just didn't ring true to me. It also only barely touched on the true hit with puberty and changing schools - the idea that literally everything you like is wrong and childish. Especially when talking to much older kids. They kind of touched on it with the music thing, but blew right past without thinking about it too much.
But no, it was just one thing rather than questioning her entire identity (being a hockey playing girl) which I thought made the story 'lighter' than it could have been. It's Pixar - it pushes emotional buttons, but the end was never in doubt. I just thought it could have been great than 'good'.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:01 PM on June 19
some of the scenes were kind of blurry
I noticed this, too! Mostly around the edges of Joy, and I couldn't tell if that was on purpose, like she and/or the other emotions had a sort of phophorous-esque glowing edge or something. But it was definitely distracting and surprising.
The story was good, even though it did copy the first kinda
I also asked my husband, "What was the moral of the first one again?" and he was like, "basically the same." :) I agree that it ended up being good, and not very great, given that they kind of told the story of your emotions switching and sort of overtaking you... but then again, they didn't go deep enough for me, or really prove the "family is a smaller consideration" thing beyond the size of friend island.
The special guest - I wish they could have gotten her instead of a fake version.
What is this referring to...?
posted by knownassociate at 9:16 AM on June 28
I noticed this, too! Mostly around the edges of Joy, and I couldn't tell if that was on purpose, like she and/or the other emotions had a sort of phophorous-esque glowing edge or something. But it was definitely distracting and surprising.
The story was good, even though it did copy the first kinda
I also asked my husband, "What was the moral of the first one again?" and he was like, "basically the same." :) I agree that it ended up being good, and not very great, given that they kind of told the story of your emotions switching and sort of overtaking you... but then again, they didn't go deep enough for me, or really prove the "family is a smaller consideration" thing beyond the size of friend island.
The special guest - I wish they could have gotten her instead of a fake version.
What is this referring to...?
posted by knownassociate at 9:16 AM on June 28
Audience here applauded at the end. We enjoyed it a lot.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 7:52 PM on June 29
posted by St. Peepsburg at 7:52 PM on June 29
The special guest - I wish they could have gotten her instead of a fake version.
What is this referring to...?
It's been long enough. Dora the Explorer and backpack.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:12 PM on July 2
What is this referring to...?
It's been long enough. Dora the Explorer and backpack.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:12 PM on July 2
I agree that it's for kids younger than 13, because it definitely did NOT deal with the real Big Things that happen in girl puberty, namely boobs and periods*. They touched on her crushes in both films, that's probably as far as they could go in a kid movie on that topic.
*seriously a cis girl being cranky at that age is "hormones" but often in the sense of "oh my god I have cramps and/or my boobs hurt all the time, argh."
Here is what struck me; when you see other people's emotions, they have the same hair/facial hair styles (her friend's emotions all had the same braids, etc.). But Riley's emotions don't have her hairstyle, but their own. It's an odd choice. I do remember the discussion about how she had mixed male/female emotions while her parents' were all one gender, (maybe meaning she was trans? or that it would change later?) but I couldn't tell with her friend's emotions if that was happening or not.
posted by emjaybee at 2:17 PM on July 2 [1 favorite]
*seriously a cis girl being cranky at that age is "hormones" but often in the sense of "oh my god I have cramps and/or my boobs hurt all the time, argh."
Here is what struck me; when you see other people's emotions, they have the same hair/facial hair styles (her friend's emotions all had the same braids, etc.). But Riley's emotions don't have her hairstyle, but their own. It's an odd choice. I do remember the discussion about how she had mixed male/female emotions while her parents' were all one gender, (maybe meaning she was trans? or that it would change later?) but I couldn't tell with her friend's emotions if that was happening or not.
posted by emjaybee at 2:17 PM on July 2 [1 favorite]
I thought it was great. I winced when they introduced Embarrassment, Envy, Anxiety, and Ennui, because I'll be damned if that isn't a spot-on description of being teenager.
It doesn't have the novelty value of the first, but I don't see how it could.
posted by adamrice at 5:42 PM on July 7
It doesn't have the novelty value of the first, but I don't see how it could.
posted by adamrice at 5:42 PM on July 7
Saw it with my niece yesterday. We were a bit disappointed. Think this was partly because the sports stuff lands differently in the UK. My niece also felt the scene with the friends telling Riley that they are going to different schools didn't work, both because there would already have been conversations about school allocations, and because she would naturally have expressed some anger and confusion to them rather than shutting down. We both found the anxiety, and the high-stress sports stuff, quite anxiety-making to watch, which I suppose means it's successful in one way, but also wasn't fun to watch. I thought they could have cut about half an hour of the trek to the back of the mind.
We were also both a bit worried about Riley's upcoming time at high school - would have liked to have a clearer message at the end about how she would make friends. No-one really challenged the "you must be good at sports to have friends". And the Michigan thing could easily have been resolved at the end and shown her standing up for herself.
Presumably the third one will address boys.
posted by paduasoy at 3:02 AM on July 16
We were also both a bit worried about Riley's upcoming time at high school - would have liked to have a clearer message at the end about how she would make friends. No-one really challenged the "you must be good at sports to have friends". And the Michigan thing could easily have been resolved at the end and shown her standing up for herself.
Presumably the third one will address boys.
posted by paduasoy at 3:02 AM on July 16
For me, this one had the hectic, overworked feel of the first without its real grace notes (Sadness connecting with Bing Bong after Joy can't bully him into cooperation gets me every time). But if I were trying to help a ten-year-old identify what anxiety feels like, I think it wouldn't be a bad choice.
posted by praemunire at 8:55 AM on July 16
posted by praemunire at 8:55 AM on July 16
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I have a 12 year old son who is about to be hitting some of the issues in the film, and I hope he understood the message of the film. Ultimately it does what the first film did, really hitting the emotions inside me.
posted by Stark at 1:55 PM on June 17 [1 favorite]