Saturday, June 20, 2015

Inside Out Review

Inside Out 
Director:  Pete Docter 
Cast Headliners: Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Richard Kind, Bill Harder, Mindy Kaling , Lewis Black 
Original Release Date: June 19th, 2015

(Please excuse the brevity , doing this from the car ) 

Pixar , normally pioneers in amazing film craft , have been in a bit.of a slump of average quality sequels and cliched ideas in the past few years.  I can happily say that Inside Out is great because it once again shows the world a fresh world filled with great characters and story like they remember. Because this this time its a sort of film within a film.

       There's uniquely two plots to this film that literally influence each other .  On one level there's  young Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) who finds her pleasant Minnesota life uprooted as she moves with Mom (Diane Lane ) and Dad ( Kyle Maclachlan ) to San Francisco .  She struggles with the impact of this .

       This informs the plot "inside " her mind where Joy ( Amy Poehler) , Sadness (Phyllis Smith ),  Disgust ( Mindy Kaling), Fear ( Bill Harder ), and Anger (Lewis Black ) exist as little colorful people who control the stare of her mind in a whimsical mind control room ala Star Trek.  Ruckus occurs and Joy and Sadness, nornally totally at odds with each other , have to traverse the crazy surreal lands of Rileys mind as the outside world affects them.
     There's several wonderful aspects of the film.  The writing is top notch with even minor characters giving great chuckles .  Of note is Boing Boing ( Richard Kind ) who helps the main duo on their quest.   The humor is slapstick and bizzare to match the world around them but it just all works very well.    
      The movie aesethically stands apart so much from Pixar's other works and film.worlds in general. The animation style hearkens back to Looney Tunes and UPA-films of the past than a copy and paste from their other works.  Places like " Imagination Land " and " Abstract Thought " show their creativity .  It all pops with color and life .
     But as with any great animated Pixar experience, its not just laughs and color. Its about moments of sad feelings and. a great plot, and that's here.  The story has some great twists and turns and is guaranteed to fill one with surprising amounts of somberness and excitement .    Though of course there's likely a good ending......

     With Inside Out this time they've remembered what makes their movies great. The mind shennagins may make it hard to swallow for some but its worth it for one who likes a enjoyable experience .   8.75 out of 10


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