Review: Inside Out

Dir. Pete Docter. 2015.

*slight spoilers ahead*

After months of waiting (and I mean months, I've been following this film since it was nothing but concept art), Pixar's latest film, Inside Out was finally released in Ireland last Friday. As a huge Pixar fan, as well as an animation buff, I immediately rushed out to see it, and even though I feel it could have explored certain aspects more, it really did not disappoint.

For those of you who have been living under a rock, Inside Out tells the story of Riley, an eleven year old girl, and the emotions that live inside her head. The most major point about this film is its startlingly unique story-line, which delves completely into aspects of philosophy and psychology. Riley's brain is an entire world in itself, including things such as long-term memory, imagination land and islands that are dedicated to aspects of her personality such as her family, her love of hockey and her honest nature. The entire concept behind the film is the main reason I wanted to see this film, never mind the huge cast! The film was unbelievably sweet, and its ideas on family, growing up and asking for help during bad times actually brought a tear to my eye, as most Pixar films tend to do. Its humour and writing was also very good as it was not only aimed at kids but also adults. The emotions continuously refer to Riley's age and how things couldn't possibly get worse, an enjoyable jab at the prospect of Riley eventually hitting puberty. The characters also all succeeded in standing on their own. Joy and Sadness were the obvious stars and acted as brilliant foils to one and other (albeit I found Sadness to be slightly irritating), but the other emotions, Anger, Fear and Disgust also stood out.

One thing that I wish they could have delved more into is the obvious fact that Riley was growing increasingly depressed. The characters hinted at it slightly, with the emotions exclaiming that Riley was incapable of feeling anything and was withdrawing from hobbies and loved ones, but all and all was skipped over quickly. I feel that such an interesting concept could have really gone into the idea of mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety, and looked into depicting the what happens inside your head when you experience these. I know it sounds a bit dark for a kids film, but Pixar once presented us with a commentary on mankind's materialism and impact on the environment, disguised as a love story between two robots, so I'm sure they could have made it work. It's not something that deeply impacts my overall feelings towards this film, just something I wish could have happened. At the end of the day, I really enjoyed watching Inside Out. It's brilliantly animated with memorable characters and a very original story.

4/5