As is often the case when it comes to mainstream media, I’m a little late to the party. For months, people in my community have been telling me that I needed to see Inside-Out 2, and, while it was high on my list, it took me a while to get there. But at last we all sat down a few weekends ago to watch it, and, like the first one, I loved it. Well, I mostly loved it. Here’s my review :).
What I Loved
• Like Inside-Out 1, this is a stunning concept for a film, and I love that these astute psychological and emotional concepts are being brought into the mainstream. The level of insight into the human heart and mind speaks to a quantum leap in emotionally intelligence (EQ; thank you Daniel Goleman) that we’ve been seeing in our culture over the last decade or so. This is incredibly hopeful for the human race!
• Like the first one, I love that Joy runs Headquarters. While the other emotions play important roles, it’s Joy, who is like a loving, wise parent, that is at the helm of Rylie’s mind.
• The most brilliant message comes at the end (spoiler alert if you haven’t seen it) when the emotions realize that Rylie’s new sense of self hinges on integrating all of her parts, including her painful memories and beliefs. Joy had attempted to banish pain to the “back of her mind”, but she eventually realizes that this doesn’t work, especially as Rylie is entering adolescence. To be a healthy human, she needs all parts of herself.
The viewer then hears the difficult memories and beliefs braiding with the positive ones as they weave into an integrated whole. Joy, Shame, Anxiety, Fear, Disgust, and Envy all play an essential role in the totality of who she is. Nobody is banished. Her voices coalesce into the full beauty of her humanity:
- “I’m a good person.”
- “I’m selfish.”
- “I’m kind.”
- “I’m not good enough.”
- “I need to fit in.”
- “But I want to be myself.”
- “I’m brave, but I get scared.”
- “I’m nice.” “I’m mean.” “I’m a good friend.” “I’m a terrible friend.” “I’m strong. “I’m weak.” “I need help sometimes.”
This is a powerful message, especially those who struggle with desperately wanting to be a perfect human being, and in the process, try to banish essential aspects of who they are because they’re deemed as “bad” or “dirty”. I wrote more about this here.
• At the end, Rylie is waiting to hear if she’s accepted into the ice hockey team. Joy waits calmly while Anxiety is freaking out. Here’s the relatable dialogue as Anxiety imagines the worst:
Anxiety: “What happens if we don’t become a Firehawk? First, mom and dad are very disappointed. We don’t go pro, and we find work as an ethnomusicologist, even though we don’t really know what that is. We have no friends and we die alone!”
Joy: “Okay, okay. None of that is happening right now, is it?”
Anxiety: “No….?”
Joy: “Great, so why don’t we take a seat in our special chair. We can’t control whether Rylie makes the team, but what can we control?”
Anxiety: “Well, um… oh! Rylie has a Spanish test tomorrow. We need to study!”
The message here is clear: When we’re mired in anxiety over something that we have absolutely no control over, taking a breath and focusing on what we can control can be very helpful.
What I Didn’t Love
• My biggest complaint about the film was that her healing and integration happened too quickly. Over the course of three days, Rylie turns into a surly, sarcastic teenager, abandons her true self and her best friends, suffers through a massive panic attack, then miraculously, integrates, asks for forgiveness from her BFFs, and goes skating off into the sunlight powered by joy. Healing doesn’t happen this way! Nobody integrates the multiplicity of inner voices in three days. It’s the work of a lifetime. Yes, I understand that this is the Hollywood version of healing, but it sends a harmful message that healing can happen almost instantly. This is never the case.
• Similarly, it was amazing (and painful) to see a depiction of a panic attack onscreen, but I wish they had more clearly named what was happening as Panic. More distressing was seeing how quickly Rylie recovered from the panic attack. This doesn’t happen in real life! A panic attack can throw us off for hours, if not days, weeks, or even months. It doesn’t mean that we’re swimming in panic, but to endure that level of adrenaline has a real effect on body and psyche.
• While I appreciated the hilarious and on-point depiction of an adolescent interacting with her parents (especially since we have one at home), I was hoping to see more of her social challenges when she got to high school. They touched on her social worries when her two best friends tell her that they’ve been assigned to a different high school, but then Rylie is miraculously best friends with the athletes and never has to suffer finding her way alone in 9th grade. Of course I understand that not all things can be addressed in a single movie (we’re all hoping for more sequels), but the social mess as too tidily resolved, in my opinion.
Overall, this is Hollywood at its best, and I’m thrilled that a film like this exists to continue to increase the emotional intelligence of our world as we all struggle to make sense of our inner lives.
I’d love to hear your thoughts! What did you love? What didn’t sit quite right with you?
I loved your review! I recently saw this movie and my favorite part was when Riley integrated all her parts! It was SO powerful to hear the contradicting but totally human reality of what Self is. With an anxious mind like mine (and all here!!) It can be so black and white- you’re either a good person or a horrible one- so, I really loved being reminded that we can be complex and that’s okay<3
I also wasn't a fan of how they portrayed friendships and conflicts in social relationships. It was all resolved too quick. I was shocked at how fast it was back to rainbows in the blink of an eye. We know that this is not at all how anything gets resolved! All of the things that take place in the movie take time. I completely agree with what you said in regards to that.
Thank you for sharing and opening it up for discussion! 🙂
Thank you for chiming in to the conversation, Diana!
I too have only just gotten around to watching this – I agree, the film was great in a lot of ways. I have the same feelings about the panic attack as well.
One thing that got me was the overall story though – it revolves around a weekend camp with sport being the major theme. Personally I’m a bit tired of this…anxiety about doing well at sports and how parents often project their desires onto their children through sport…we need less of this in society (although I’ll admit that the main character’s parents aren’t guilty of this…it does , however, just remind me too much of that environment).
A different theme would have been much welcomed…please – just anything apart from high school sport.
Oh, gosh, I hear you and that’s such a great point! As the mother of two kids who didn’t gravitate to competitive sports, I’m a bit tired of that theme as well.
Yes, I seem to recall that Martial Arts was an alternative option that you chose for your kids? I don’t know if that stuck with them or not, but I personally thought that was a good approach.
I don’t want to discredit the movie too much, as I do think it was a great representation of the parts / many minds and self. I certainly view it as a return to form for Pixar.
Thank you Sheryl for this great review! I fully agree with every point you mentioned, especially that one where you mentioned the very fast healing.. as you said, yes it is a movie, but this potentially gives a totally wrong message that you can heal at a glimpse, with a single thought or just little reflection!
I believe such important movie should have been introduced through a multiple episodes series..
And just an interesting thing to share; my 7 years old niece was highly interested in the movie and watched it several times, and surprisingly and sadly this reflected strongly negatively on her! She became unnatural, imitating a single character at a time and behaving only through this character with everybody, and became kind of not social and highly sensitive because of that.. my brother took her to a doctor and after discussion, he diagnosed her that this movie addiction at this age was the reason!
So it seems such deep psychological issues and movie styles should not be for young children!
Thanks Sheryl 🙂
Wow, that’s very interesting, Mahta. I do think the film was geared more towards older teens and adults, and I worried that younger kids could take it literally and think that there are actual characters in their heads. This is also an area where parents can take responsibility in terms of deciding what media is appropriate for their child, and to what degree.
The original Inside Out movie was amazing. It was a very authentic look at the human teenage mind. My family could relate to it having two daughters. One of the few movies that made me weep —- the scene when Riley reunited with her parents after the bus trip is human and raw.
Inside Out 2 was wonderful. The addition of the new characters especially Anxiety was great. Not sure I have too many complaints about it other than it just came second and the first movie was so iconic. My daughter said to me after the movie that she has that love/hate relationship with her favorite activity like Riley does with hockey.
Two excellent movies then and it will be interesting to see if they make a 3rd movie.
Thank you for your comment, Craig. I love that your daughter shared that with you after the movie – that seeing it perhaps gave her language for the ambivalence she carries.
Great review! I loved that movie. And honestly, even as an adult I have found it helpful to envision my emotions in character form as a path to healing and acceptance. Just the other day I was thinking to myself who I would cast as the voice actors for my emotions in my head. It sounds silly but it was a fun way of acknowledging and reclaiming ownership over the more challenging emotions that I struggle with. Who would have thought that a Disney movie could spark inspiration and assist on a path towards healing?
I love that exercise! I’m going to ask my son tonight who he would cast as the voice actors for his headquarters :).
I read a book by Jill Bolte Taylor recently- Whole Brain Living. It’s a pretty interesting book. She is a neuroscientist who had a stroke. She posits the idea that each hemisphere of the brain has a thinking side and an emotional side. 2 hemispheres + 2 sides each = 4 Characters. Then, in the book, the author asks you to identify your own characters and name them. This whole exercise reminds me of the Inside Out characters and your idea to think of an actor who may voice these characters.
Her TED talk is AMAZING. It would be nice for the next Inside-Out if they showed the thinking side as well. Maybe that’s what Joy was supposed to be, but of course joy is still an emotion so it’s a lopsided view of the brain.
I finally just watched it recently too! I liked it but I also didn’t like it also. I wonder if it’s too much to introduce to young children. I see lots of young kids watching it but do they even understand the language of what is going on? Will this make them hyperaware versus just being a kid. I can maybe see this for older kids like teens. Not saying young kids don’t struggle but I fear it may putting this into their head a little bit. The panic attack scene was a bit intense, I felt anxious even watching that as an adult but I also understand what a panic attack is. I do agree, the movie moved quite fast in her mental health journey, I didn’t even realize it was 3 days until you mentioned it. I did like when they spoke about memories and getting to the root –kinda reminded me of EMDR. I wasn’t a fan of the first one either for the same reason. Like are a bunch of kids going to say they have all these issues for genuine reasons or because they saw it in the movie? I think it’s great to speak about emotions with children but I feel like we should let them be kids and explain things as they arise to help normalize a lot of the human emotions we feel as we grow.
Those are very interesting points, Laura. I do think there is some danger among the younger generation to over-indulge in emotions and allow them to dictate their actions. I don’t think the movie showed this explicitly, but I could see it reinforcing a limiting belief that it’s our emotional lives that run the show.
I cried my eyes out when all the voices were integrated at the end! You’re right- sooo hopeful for humanity!!!
Me too!