Article Summary:
“Inside Out 2 teaches us despite our shortcomings, challenges, or daily scenarios, it’s our choice on how we decide to act upon our emotions; we cannot let our emotions control us.”
-Caleb Gunn; writer, actor, artist, “self-proclaimed” celebrity. (2024)
The beloved cast of Inside Out are back for another chapter which perfectly carries on the story of Riley and her inner emotions. The emotions are wonderfully written to build upon how they’ve developed in the previous film, whilst making space for the new emotions as they complicate Riley’s life, which we learn however is a natural part of life, and it’s how we act upon our emotions that define who we are. More on that in “The Film’s Message” at the end of the article; because now- let’s read the Pro’s and Con’s below to get a feel for how I enjoyed the film as your very own pop culture critic!
-15 Pros/Cons to read over! (celebrating Inside Out 1’s release date of ‘2015’)
-Summary of the story’s moral in less than 380 words!
PROS AND CONS:
Pro: The movie begins, and already I’m smiling like a proud father when “Bundle of Joy” begins playing. I close my eyes and try to remember the time I was 8 and stepped into theaters to watch Inside Out for the first time. My “nostalgia emotion” may have gotten the best of my tears.
Pro: Having the original gang of emotions partake in the major part of the adventure across Riley’s mind really establishes them as a squad who all really work well off each other with their contrasting personalities. Each character seems to have a cute moment with each other and really establishes their friendships.
Pro: The decorations surrounding the five original emotion’s bunk beds and the behavior of the characters while sleeping were all adorable. Joy laughing in her sleep, Anger punching air, and Disgust wearing a hairnet all caught my attention.
Pro: The addition of new emotions feels wonderfully chaotic as the four begin sporadically appearing once HQ gets a demo day. Each character perfectly gives the audience an impression about what they’re all about, from Anxiety’s quick speaking and nervous handshake to Envy’s shining chibi eyes as she admires Disgust’s hair, Embarrassment’s sweaty palms, hoodie, and lack of speech, Ennui’s complete disinterest in interacting with anyone else, and yes, even Nostalgia coming and already feeling nostalgic for when they all arrived at HQ was perfect. Each character was introduced in a masterfully done way, all thanks to the team of writers and animators.
Con: Although they are theoretically used to their full potential as far as the plot would need them, Envy and Ennui feel very sidelined in the film despite being half of the “new emotion gang”. (I’ll count Nostalgia out of this argument considering she’s supposedly more of a gag.)
Envy really sat as Anxiety’s right-hand man during a couple instances since the two emotions do go hand-in-hand, but if we were to see Envy get really jealous and take over the dashboard with a more impulsive personality, that would have made her a lot more memorable. All there really is to note on Envy is her tiny height and chibi eyes.
Ennui’s lack of interaction does make sense since she is boredom in the flesh, however there were simply not many times boredom (or at least faking it) would be present during this continuously exciting week for Riley. Too bad to not see her make more of an impact.
Pro: The character development for Joy and Sadness truly felt as if it came full circle when Joy encouraged Sadness to take control of the dashboard and let Riley get a good cry in before beginning Hockey camp. Sadness even comforting Riley with her words shows she cares for Riley, just in a very different way Joy could ever express.
Pro: Bloofy, Pouchy, and Lance Slashblade make my heart literally drench out gallons of nerdy joy. The absolute freakin’ creativity of the implementation of these minor roles makes my mouth foam at how much Pixar cared to make these niche jokes. Bloof and Pouchy are hilarious parodies of Dora The Explorer, Blue’s Clues, and Mickey Mouse Club House, and possibly a pun of “Bluey’s” name. Bloofy continuously breaks the fourth wall as he asks for the audience’s help to find something. Pouchy does the same as he seeks the audience’s help, but Anger refuses to wait and ends up violating him as he reaches into his mouth. What’s crazy is how both Bloofy and Pouchey were designed as 2D cel shaded cartoons, completely contrasting the extremely high quality 3D models from the emotions.
Lance Slashblade was a character that had me jumping up and down in my chair as my family on my sides looked at me like I was mentally ill. “HE’S LITERALLY A FIRE EMBLEM, FINAL FANTASY, GAMECUBE PARODY!!” I squealed as I cried from laughter. His hair blowing in the wind, majestic voice, and of course the literal PIXELS you could see in his model were fantastic. Having a Gamecube parody and a cartoon gag right next to each other was the most fever dream moment in the film and all of Pixar! Oh and don’t even get me started on Disgust’s and Lance’s romance, c’mon, I’ve had a crush on Disgust since 2015!..
Pro: The locations the emotions explored on their adventure were flowing of innovation. From the floating with food, the card castle where tiny animators helped Anxiety come up with every possible solution to Riley’s problems (and the fact it was a wonderful 1984 reference), the ‘brain-storm’ the gang have to survive, each location was stuffed full of creativity and an artistic touch!
Con: The story ending on an open note where we learn if Riley made the Hockey team or not confused me and left me wondering why we couldn’t just be given a direct answer. However, on second thought, it’s possible the writers aren’t sure what they plan to do with Riley if they hypothetically make a third film, so leaving it open for the next directors might have been the smarter choice..
Pro: Anxiety gulping down five energy drinks was genuinely such a satisfying animation, I literally whispered “Brooo, how good is this movie gonna be?” Also is it just me, or does Anxiety look like one of the “Muppets”?! Just look at her!
Pro: The charisma between the previous emotions and new emotions feed character lovers like me. I adored how Fear on multiple occasions complimented Anxiety’s actions and told her, “You and I are gonna get along”. The charisma between Sadness and Embarrassment as Sadness called him “big guy” was so cute, and Disgust’s ick over Envy’s obsession over her gives huge sister energy. It’s awesome how the writers notice their similarities, and instead of ignoring it, they simply made them friends/enemies!
Con: When I first witnessed Joy’s “snap”, I thought it was terrific! Joy’s snap added some real depth to her character, showing she’s not so naive too not notice the problems around her, and then having Anger, Disgust, and Fear help her up added even much depth to their friendship, it shows the emotions truly love each other. However, I feel the story timing for Joy’s snap doesn’t work well. The “hero’s descent” begins, something every good story does so the main character will later bounce back even stronger and wiser, but we don’t get to see that happen. Instead, her friends pull her right out of that pit, and we don’t get to see our main character struggle.
Joy was given an issue, and a second later it was revolved. If we could have seen Joy’s frustration build up further, only for her to snap later after her struggles had been built up, that would have had a lot more emotional weight. Personally, I would have dragged Joy’s descent into depression out further for dramatic impact.
Con: Although it would have been nearly repeating the end of the first film, seeing a new memory composed of yellow and orange, representing Joy and Anxiety, would have been another nice way to show their issues were patched up, and how they can work together. There have been times I’ve been stressed, sad, and yet joyful at the same time, so seeing a memory with even three different mixed emotions would have been fascinating and could show how Riley’s outlook and emotions on life are becoming more complicated and mixed.
Con: The post-credit scene where Joy confronts the “deep dark secret” in the vault, where the secret is just Riley “burning a hole in the rug” was a bafflingly bad joke. What kind of crazy secret is that bro? She’s 15, she’s gotta have done something more rebellious or embarrassing at this point! Joy does reveal that Riley’s urinated in the pool before, which is a more believable secret for Riley, so they should have just rolled with that. Really strange missed joke.
Pro: Riley feels like a much more fleshed out character this time around, where she actually has character development this time. She must learn to control her emotions, and deal with her growing interest in friends compared to family, all while dealing with her inner moral as she believes “she’s a good person”. Riley’s external conflict this time around also feels much more intriguing to see how her Hockey Camp pans out.
This movie has more Pros than Cons!
I rate the film a 9.5/10, inside and out!
The Film’s Message:
In Inside Out 1’s story, it’s Joy, but surprisingly more so, Sadness, who have to come rescue Riley from her emotionless state she’s fallen into. Here, it’s shown Riley, and people alike, should express their emotions and feel what they are going through, and emotions make us what we are.
However, in Inside Out 2, that message is expanded upon in a very fascinating manner. This time around, in the peak of the climax, Joy has to convince Anxiety to let go of controlling Riley’s emotions, something she had to learn previously. Joy learned she can’t always make Riley happy, and how other emotions are needed, but in this story, she has learned you can’t control Riley’s life and memories either. Joy has learned she isn’t responsible for sending all of Riley’s negative memories to the back of her mind in attempt to fix her, however, it’s Riley who needs to sort through her flaws and mistakes, so she can mature and realize who she needs to be, “the good person” she strives to be. It’s Riley who controls how she will emotionally respond, not her emotions fighting over and choosing how she should act.
Joy deals with not feeling needed throughout the film, so far as snapping and saying she’s doing her best to stay positive, something that may resonate with many viewers alike. However, when Riley’s conscious is calling for Joy’s presence after her Anxiety breakdown, she realizes Riley still wants to be full of happiness as she once was, and Joy is more grateful than ever to give her that emotion.
Inside Out 2 teaches us despite our shortcomings, challenges, or daily scenarios, it’s our choice on how we decide to act upon our emotions; we cannot let our emotions control us. Life won’t always be joyful, there are times we need to cry with Sadness, turn away full of Disgust, flee with Fear, stand your ground with Anger, feel Embarrassment so we learn, experience Envy so we desire more, laze with Ennui (as boredom is healthy at times), and even feel Anxiety when we need to get our act together. Our emotions, both Joy and Anxiety, are integral to who we are, and It’s our choice how we feel on the inside, and how we act out upon them.
Thank you for reading all the way to the end! If you enjoyed this article, read more on my home page, share with anybody who would enjoy this article, and please support my social platforms and the ‘Gunn’s Garage’ blog so reviews like these reach more pop culture fans like you!
-Caleb Gunn, Writer, Actor, Artist, and ‘Self-Proclaimed’ Celebrity
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