A friend of mine said something interesting after watching the latest understated Pixar masterpiece, INSIDE OUT: "This film could actually help people." And I don't think he meant that the emotion-based story might brighten people's day. I didn't give his prediction much thought until many hours later—and after hearing the many children in the audience talk to their parents about who their favorite emotion character was—but when I considered it, I realized that with just one screening, I could imagine kids opening up about and understanding their feelings, giving them a visual representation of what goes on in their heads when they get mad at a situation or person. I envision a 9-year-old noticing that Lewis Black's Anger character or Bill Hader's Fear is getting the best of them, and maybe allowing it to happen or making sure that Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler) wins the day.
But the more I thought about it, I realized that the film might also inspire adults—particularly parents—to reconsider they way children's minds operate. As simple as the Pixar team (led by director and co-writer Peter Docter, who also helmed UP and MONSTERS, INC.) make the processes of the brain appear, there's also a great complexity and occasional darkness at play. Examine the brilliant trip that Joy and Sadness (Phyllis Smith of "The Office") take into 11-year-old Riley's mental room containing Abstract Thought. I can't think of a single moment in any Pixar movie that has approached getting that obtuse. Or take a look at Riley's closely guarded prison of the Subconscious, where are of her deepest fears are housed.
Riley (voiced by Kaitlyn Dias) is in a particularly vulnerable state when we meet her, resulting from her parents (Kyle MacLachlan and Diane Lane) moving from her beloved Minnesota to the mean streets of San Francisco. Okay, they aren't that mean, but the culture shock is enough to send the normally happy and optimistic girl into an emotional tailspin. The world of her mind is an incredible concept—part funhouse, part Mission Control—with Riley's five core emotions (the fifth being Mindy Kaling's Disgust) standing watch and making decisions about how Riley will process this new world around her. With Joy firmly in control, Riley is able to maintain a fairly upbeat view of the move, despite missing her best friend and hockey team back in Minnesota.
Each time Riley experiences a somewhat significant event in her life, a memory is created (they look like colored bowling balls) and they roll through an elaborate network to her long-term or short-term storage. Each memory is assigned to one of the bigger-picture "lands" in Riley's mind, ones that represent such things as family, friendship, hockey and even just being a goofball. And then there are the Core Memories, which are the ones that will last forever; they are stored close to the command center and can be tapped into at crucial times in Riley's life — to recall the person she is and hopefully fortify her in some meaningful way.
Poehler's Joy isn't much of a far cry from Leslie Knope, her eternally chipper, always on message "Parks & Recreation" character, who treads the annoyance line gracefully, sometimes losing her balance. And while it makes sense that she would always want Riley to be happy, her earnestness to make sure that none of the other emotions steer her in an unhappy direction seems off, which is exactly what you're supposed to feel. As adults, we know that important memories that help us grow aren't all happy ones, but Joy isn't there yet. And it's no accident that, for reasons she can't even explain, Sadness is drawn to Riley's happy memories (which she can taint if she touches them for too long), which makes Joy crazy, leading to the pair of them getting accidentally sucked into the network and sent across the brain to memory storage, making Riley suddenly feel very empty and maudlin inside.
Most of INSIDE OUT concerns Sadness and Joy attempting to get back to HQ to set things right, and in the process we enter all sorts of interesting worlds and cross paths with characters like Bing Bong (a cross-bred animal creature voiced by Richard Kind), Riley's one-time imaginary friend who just hangs out and entertains himself with good memories of Riley and him. Bing Bong seems like a silly, cartoonish character initially, but the significance he plays in this film is crucial and beyond moving. I also loved the brief appearance of Paula Poundstone and Bobby Moynihan as the Forgetters, a brand of janitor that goes into Riley's memories and vacuums out what they don't think she'll need anymore, dumping them into the cold, foreboding Memory Dump. (She doesn't need to remember these phone numbers; she's got them in her phone!") And I want an entire film made just about the little production company that creates Riley's dreams.
Docter (and co-screenwriters Meg LeFauve and Josh Cooley) aren't afraid to let things to get serious when the need to. Riley is so broken up about leaving Minnesota that she contemplates running away from home. With only Fear, Anger and Disgust running the show, she's not making the wisest decisions. It may not be until close to the end of Inside Out that you understand what it truly is: a coming-of-age story. It may seem tragic that Riley's various Lands are falling apart the more she seems disillusioned by them (a botched hockey tryout in San Francisco causes Hockey Land to crumble into the Memory Dump, with the rest of the lands to follow). But it's not just Riley who grows up during the course of the film; Joy had to understand that her job is changing as Riley is getting older.
One of the things I love most about INSIDE OUT is that all five emotions are working toward the same goal. When I went into the film the first time, I assumed the emotions would be constantly battling for control; in fact, they all want a healthy happy Riley. We begin to realize that Fear is actually keeping her from getting hurt; Disgust not only keeps her from eating terrible food, but she keeps her from wearing a terrible outfit on her first day at a new school; and Anger is there to let off necessary steam, and probably helps her play hockey a little better. Sadness might have the most important job of all as Riley matures, especially she and Joy work together.
INSIDE OUT isn't just one of the best Pixar films of the last couple of years; it's one of the studio's finest efforts in its history, sitting on the same shelf as WALL-E, UP and the best of the TOY STORY films. The film might be slightly more appealing to adults, but I can't imagine a youngster not eating up the inventive landscapes of the mind, even if they can't quite grasp what Abstract Thought is, or understand where the Train of Thought is taking us, or get why crates of Facts and Opinions getting mixed up is so damn funny.
Docter and his team fill every corner of the frame with gags and bits of brilliance that demand you check out the film two or three times at least. It's that joyous and worthy of celebration. As an added bonus, as with all Pixar films, INSIDE OUT is preceded by a short film. This time around it's a romantic musical called LAVA, and it's very strange, quite charming, and full of geography... and that's all you need to know about it. The day you spend in the movies with these two works is going to be one of the best days of your year.
