Pixar have had more misses than hits lately, with Elemental and Lightyear receiving lukewarm reviews and Toy Story 4 (released in 2019) their last commercial and critical smash hit. Their recent string of underperforming original stories might be what has convinced head honcho Pete Docter that they need to return to tried-and-tested characters. Whether it’s Woody and Buzz, Nemo and Dory, the Incredibles’ Parr family or Joy and Sadness, it seems Pixar won’t rest until they’ve sequelified all their IP (though mercifully, Docter has sworn off live-action remakes, which the House of Mouse are churning out at a rate of knots).
2015’s Inside Out is the latest film to be revisited, with the colourful coterie of emotions (Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust) that live inside 13-year-old Riley’s mind excited about her final summer before high school. As she arrives at a three-day hockey camp with her best friends, Riley is hit with the bombshell that they won’t be going to the same high school as her, and so the tween decides she has to choose between throwing all her energy into making the sports team or hanging with her pals one last time. A similar change is taking place at Emotion HQ, as a construction crew unceremoniously announces the arrival of four new employees. Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edibiri), Ennui (Adéle Exarchopoulos) and the near-silent Embarrassment are “more complex” than the quintet who have resided in Riley’s brain so far, and they have some strong new ideas about how Riley should navigate this turning point in her life.
Roughly following the structure of Inside Out, the sequel sees Joy and co set out on another fetch quest – this time they’re tasked with retrieving Riley’s “sense of self” after an over-zealous Anxiety blasts it to the back of the mind and banishes Joy and the old emotions from headquarters. The action is split between the old emotions, new emotions, and Riley’s antics in the real world, which does give the film a tricky balance to strike, with a large number of characters fighting for attention. Anxiety is the most fleshed-out of the new additions, but Exarchopoulos (a seasoned voice actress in her native France) steals the show as the terminally disinterested Ennui, while June Squibb has a fun cameo as ‘Nostalgia’ (“You’re not due to arrive for at least another 10 years, after high school graduation and a best friend’s wedding!” Anxiety tells her as she ushers her back into the basement). Even so, there’s not really enough time to truly get to know the new characters with the exception of Anxiety, who is the de-facto antagonist proven to be a good guy by the very end.
Speaking of new additions, two original cast members, Mindy Kaling and Bill Hader, who voiced Disgust and Fear, have been replaced by Liza Lapira and Tony Hale, allegedly due to a pay dispute. It’s a shame, but Lapira and Hale are as sparky as the rest of the cast (even as a Hader superfan, I must concede Hale fits right in, even if he’s essentially reusing his Forky voice).
The problem with sequels is that they can rarely match up to the original – Toy Story is perhaps the only Pixar property where the second and third instalments managed it – and that’s inevitably true for Inside Out 2. Although there are some fun expansions to the established world (a scene involving a video game character and a preschool television show utilises different animation styles to great effect) the film essentially colours within the lines, taking few risks and sticking to a tried-and-tested formula. It’s a timid offering from a once-bold studio, and although it’s better conceived and more enjoyable than many of the studio’s recent projects, retaining the charming design style and thoughtful touches which have made Pixar one of the world’s most beloved animation studios, it – ironically enough – lacks the emotional gravitas of its predecessor.
ANTICIPATION.
Must we? 3
ENJOYMENT.
An enjoyable outing with old friends, but the stakes couldn't be lower. 3
IN RETROSPECT.
Still waiting for a true glimmer of that old Pixar magic... 3
Directed by
Kelsey Mann
Starring
Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, Ayo Edebiri, Phyllis Smith, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Tony Hale
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