REVIEW: Inside Out (U)

For people of a certain age (by this I mean my age give or take a few years either side) there was a comic strip in the British kids comic The Beano called The Numbskulls. They were jelly bean shaped creatures with arms and legs and lived in the head of people and they would work together to operate the human body. I guess for the following generation you could say it was a bit like a Mech robot with a pilot or two but in a more organic way. For those of you familiar with either or both of these references – this is what Inside Out is kind of like. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about – read on. In fact just read on regardless because I need to tell you a bit more.

Inside Out is Pixar’s latest offering and is based around a young girl of around 11 years of age who is quite happy with her life. Then everything gets turned upside down (as opposed to Inside Out) when her father gets a job and they have to move from the leafy countryside to municipal surroundings of none other than San Francisco.  A simple story you may assume – but this story chronicles the effect it has on this little girl called Riley – in particular from an emotional stand point in ones head. Inside our heads (according to the movie) we have a set of fuzzy creatures that represent some emotions – Joy (glowing, radiant and ever optimistic), Sadness (who’s always feeling (and looking) blue), Fear (who’s always wanting to run away), Disgust (‘nuff sed) and Anger. All of these work together to create Riley’s mindset and, after a whistle stop introduction of human developments (and how these mind creatures appear and develop) they throw our heroine into this situation and this is where the film really gets going. A large potion of emotion, six helpings of imagination and a side of light comic relief in the form of Bing-Bong (Riley’s imaginary friend from when she was little) round off a thought provoking emotional journey of a movie.

I really liked this one and it really made you think. The trailer (of which I have seen a number of times) suggested that we would be bouncing around heads – as we saw her mam and dad talking at a dinner table – but really this visiting of other people’s heads is rare and mainly done for a contrast or for comic effect.  Some of this movie is inspired – and it’s so creative it nearly deserves it’s own genre. This film could easily have been terrible – and it’s a very tough subject to do right. I believe they did well. It would have been so easy for some sort of combat between an emotion like Joy (as a kind of superhero) and, say Sadness (a kind of supervillain) to fight in her head to represent some sort of internal monologue and how the girl would react outwardly. Instead it provides a thought provoking approach of saying there are actually times we need to be angry or sad and by working with the emotions rather than repressing and hiding them, it’s actually really good for you. Yes, it’s actually that deep. From a children’s perspective it’s more of some cute colourful fuzzy characters doing some interesting, and sometimes silly, things. 

Pixar are famous for their awesome movies including classic titles like Toy Story, Monsters Inc. and Cars. However they have recently been off the boil making sequels like Cars 2 and Monsters University which weren’t quite as good as their previous portfolio – however this is definitely a back to form for them. It’s both original and thoughtful on what at first glance seems a mundane plot for a story.

Inside Out is out at all good cinemas now.

POPSCORE – 8.5/10

What am I talking about? Pixar’s Inside Out (movie)

Where can I find out more? http://movies.disney.co.uk/inside-out

Anything else?

Some of the memory balls in Riley's mind contain scenes from other Pixar movies, such as Carl and Ellie's wedding in Up .

In the middle of the control console, the top three buttons form Mickey Mouse, otherwise known as a hidden Mickey.

According to director Pete Docter, each emotion is based on a shape: Joy is based on a star, Sadness is a teardrop, Anger is a fire brick, Fear is a raw nerve, and Disgust is broccoli. He noted that he likes broccoli very much, however.