I HAVE TO SAY…

Inside Out 2 follows Riley after middle school on the way to high school. Riley has come to terms with experiencing mixed emotions for the events in her life and still has islands of values that are important to her. Now she has discovered her sense of self based on her experiences being that she is a good person.

The puberty alarm goes off and the emotions from the first movie (Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Anger, and Fear) are confused but let it go, until four new emotions show up: Anxiety, Envy, Ennui, and Embarrassment. Nostalgia tries to join but it isn’t her time yet.

I liked Inside Out 2 and the messaging behind it, but for some reason it didn’t hit me as hard as the first one did. Maybe because we are used to the concept of personifying emotions and it’s technically a kid’s movie.

Anxiety was a big part of this movie and it made me feel seen. The last twenty or so minutes of the movie really hit me, when an anxiety spiral is shown and we see how Riley grounds herself through it.

This movie does a great job of showing how emotions can drive our actions and how acting out of our emotions can affect our sense of self. It shows what it can feel like to have conflicting emotions and how sometimes we push other feelings aside and focus on others. It shows how anxiety can take joy. How unrealistic it is to be joyous all the time. (Even joy gets tired). That we don’t have all the answers all the time. The messaging was relatable and powerful and relatively straightforward.

Some parts of the movie made me laugh. I didn’t cry, but I got close towards the end. Some parts were intentionally cringey and others made me question if I was high, because the animation of the pouch was crazy. But overall, the movie went by quickly and was entertaining. I liked it as a sequel.