Nine years after the original film, Inside Out 2 sees the original five emotions being joined by newly developing ones just as Riley enters her teens and developing puberty. Joy Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust must now learn to work with Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui as Riley attends a hockey camp, learns her friends are attending a different high school, and tries to impress one of the players so she can join her team when school starts. This Pixar sequel manages to hit some of the same strides as its predecessor but while still keeping itself fresh and expand upon the ins and outs of Riley's mind. The animation is, of course considering the studio involved, stunning and very imaginative when it comes to things regarding memories and deep secrets. Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein's script is strong, giving the movie a worthy story to follow off from the first movie. The way Riley's actions and the day-to-day happenings of her inner mind intersect are quite beautiful and striking. How the two manage to balance the emotional drama and the quick comedy shows how Pixar, while they falter at times, have never lost their touch. The biggest praise to the writing should of course go to how Anxiety's attempt to take over causes Riley to doubt herself and have a panic attack all the while Anxiety has a meltdown over not being able to undo it. Anxiety works not just because of the writing but also being perfectly casted and performed by Maya Hawke whose voice is exactly what you expect the personification of a teenager's anxiety would sound like. Hawke, alongside both the returning actors like Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, and Lewis Black and the new cast such as Tony Hale, Liza Lapira, and Ayo Edebiri, all give astounding, thoughtful, and hilarious performances that are hard to ever forget. It doesn't matter if Inside Out 2 is a better film than the first one, what does matter is that on its own it's powerful. Over all: 100%
2024 top list so far:
1. Dune: Part 2
2. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
3. Inside Out 2
4. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
5. The Fall Guy
6. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
7. Abigail
8. Monkey Man
9. Late Night with the Devil
10. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
11. The Book of Clarence
12. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
13. Drive-Away Dolls
14. Kung Fu Panda 4
15. Lisa Frankenstein
16. Argylle
17. Mean Girls 2024
