Inside Out 2 (review) – a fun, exciting and empathetic exploration of teenage feelings and emotions

Inside Out 2 is now showing in cinemas nationwide.

2015’s Inside Out is arguably Pixar’s finest film, which is saying a lot when you consider their vast catalogue of gems. The premise of sentient emotions controlling the head of human characters, in this case, 11-year-old Riley, is not an unfamiliar one. However, the film’s beguiling sincerity, culminating in the message that it’s okay to be sad, made it a creative and emotional powerhouse. Inside Out 2 sees Riley (now played by Kensington Tallman) at 13 and about to hit puberty. She is attending hockey camp with her closest friends, hoping to impress a formidable coach (Yvette Nicole Brown) and make the high school team.

Riley’s emotions work to ensure she fulfils her goals, as Joy (Amy Poehler), who acted as a benign dictator in the first film, now works in tandem with the other emotions. They’ve even created Riley’s “Sense of Self” to help influence her choices, a self-explanatory object that forms her core beliefs on self-perception. But the arrival of puberty brings four new emotions, their leader being Anxiety (Maya Hawke). Anxiety also wants Riley to make the team, but unlike Joy, is wary of the various negative outcomes that may come from their efforts. Anxiety tosses Riley’s Sense of Self and the original emotions out of the headquarters so that she may begin again. As Joy and her companions attempt to retrieve Riley’s old Sense of Self, Anxiety’s actions have ripple effects in Riley’s world.

Like its predecessor, this is a small story with huge stakes. What, on the outside, appears to be a tale of whether or not a teenager makes a sports team is, on the inside, a battle for what will determine Riley’s future personality. Where the previous film saw Joy coming to accept the importance of other emotions, especially Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Inside Out 2 concerns the consequences of one emotion, in this case, Anxiety, running rampant. It’s a wise decision, as anxiety becomes more prevalent the more we grow and become self-conscious of our desires and place in the world. The resulting film is the most poignant exploration of adolescent mental health since 2018’s masterpiece Eighth Grade.

Inside Out was a deep but accessible psychological story about acknowledging, actualising, and accepting our feelings rather than pushing them away. This sequel continues to champion such beliefs. Although Riley has learned that she doesn’t need to be happy all the time, she is still struggling with the concept of identity. How does she fit into the world around her, and what kind of person is she?

Such questions are breeding grounds for angst, yet we all go through them at some stage of our lives, often during adolescence, as depicted here. The film’s editing, sometimes steady and other times a whirlwind, along with the use of solemn music to underscore the dramatic moments, showcases both the loneliness and disquiet that such complex questions can be to a budding mind. Despite the cartoonish visuals of the film at times, its sequences of intense stress or panic are viscerally portrayed through the craftsmanship.

This is enhanced by the story inside Riley’s mind. An especially clever choice in making Anxiety the antagonist is how her personality mirrors that of Joy’s in the first film. She’s well-intentioned but too domineering, something Joy has since grown from. Yet where Joy once prioritised happiness to toxic extremes, Anxiety catastrophises all potential outcomes, which makes the two compelling foils to each other. This makes their conflict captivating from a narrative standpoint, but the eventual resolution is a blistering lesson on compromise and temperament – about accepting what can be controlled and what can’t. That their arcs are in service to the legitimisation of feelings and, furthermore, universal experiences of self-doubt, uncertainty, and even more extreme feelings like self-loathing, lends emotional credence to the respectful maturity of the film.

Pixar’s signature charms still come through these themes, namely the animation and the comedy. From the vibrant colours of the personified emotions to the lifelike details of Riley’s experiences, the visuals pop off the screen, with the scenes inside Riley’s head delighting via their giddy effervescence. Some experimentation with the animation, namely in the form of a talking 2D hand-drawn pouch, even proves to be some of the film’s comedic highlights.

Inside Out 2 is often funny due to the humour being born from the idiosyncrasies of the characters’ interactions. This is regardless of whether it’s the emotions contrasting with each other or the consequences of Riley’s changing personality, as shown in an especially funny sequence where her mother’s inner emotions react to Riley’s new teenage outbursts. Such choices of visual style and tone keep the spirit of the film’s resonant themes intact while still making them engaging for the family audiences Pixar aims to please.

There are flaws that prevent the film from reaching the original’s heights. Its narrative structure is noticeably similar to the first, from emotions having to get back to headquarters to arguably even the central arc of one emotion learning to let go of their over-controlling nature. Such parallels may prove uninspired for select viewers. Yet it still uses this otherwise familiar template to explore broader themes on youth, existentialism, and the actualisation of mental health struggle, giving this film the necessary distinctions to stand on its own.

Even in 2024, film and TV depictions of mental health that earnestly engage with the mercurial nuances of the topic are few and far between. The Edge of Seventeen, RWBY: Volume 9, and Aftersun are among the select handful that come to mind. Inside Out 2 not only examines this topic deftly, but does so in an imaginative and colourful way that will scratch the itch of entertainment and emotional satisfaction. While the original remains the gold standard for modern animation, this sequel more than justifies its existence via its empathetic themes, strong humour, and engrossing animation style. It’s a fun and exciting family film that doubles beautifully as an affirmation of our feelings and experiences.