Inside Out 2 (2024)

Score: 4.5 / 5

A second outing is rarely as evocative, provocative, or enthralling as a first outing, but Inside Out 2 is a worthy sequel in what may well become an ongoing series. While it was an uncharacteristically risky choice to tap a first-time feature director in Kelsey Mann (who had supervised the stories for The Good Dinosaur, Monsters University, and Onward), Mann's energy effortlessly fits the wacky yet emotional world of Inside Out. His product is a sequel through and through: taking what worked best about the original and, almost a decade later, giving more and more of it in faster bursts and more pizzazz.

Since we don't have to waste time getting ingratiated into the inner world of Riley -- literally, as the main characters are, in fact, personified emotions in her head -- this film jumps right into new territory. Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger now oversee a new part of Riley's mind called her "Sense of Self," a collection of memories in a pool of feelings that shape Riley's core beliefs about herself. It's one of those elements of fantasy or sci-fi that often feels laborious at first, but once it's introduced, actually manages to feel both inspired and clever. Much like the first film's use of "core memories," here the Sense of Self becomes the primary lynchpin for the plot and coming conflict. And conflict is indeed coming: Riley is now a teenager. 

Riley prepares for high school by attending an ice hockey camp that may qualify her for the school's team. Unfortunately, her "Puberty Alarm" goes off at the start of her weekend away, and her emotions are not prepared for the onslaught. After a team of workers all but demolishes Headquarters, Joy and her fellow emotions are invaded by five new emotions who clash tremendously with Riley's status quo. Their leader, Anxiety, is a harried orange time bomb, and her accomplices Envy, Ennui, and Embarrassment do little to slow her roll. Nostalgia appears to be a new emotion as well, but she's mostly pushed out and told to wait for Riley to grow up a bit more. While Joy wants Riley to have fun and be herself at camp, Anxiety wants Riley to win and impress her coach and future teammates. Their clash leads Anxiety to jettison Riley's Sense of Self and attempt to fashion a new one, marooning Joy and the others so they won't interfere; the original emotions embark on an adventure to Riley's subconscious to rescue and reinstate her Sense of Self.

There's a lot -- and I mean a lot -- of content in this film. Breakneck plot points would make attempting a detailed summary extremely difficult, and I'm finding it difficult to even remember all that occurs narratively. Riley's interactions with her best friends are hard to endure as she abandons them, under Anxiety's influence, in order to hang out with Val and the other established high school hockey team. Her desperation to fit in and impress the older girls adds a distinctive queer element to the story that shocked and delighted me, though it's never made explicit by the screenplay (but the visual artists certainly knew what they were doing). There's also some interesting tension with the coach that leads Riley to act in distinctly unethical ways, and though the film avoids too much direct discourse on morality, we get the keen perspective inside her head of the internal damage that dishonesty and selfishness does to us all.

Riley often repeats to herself that she's a good person, and while it becomes pretty annoying, it also rings remarkably true, especially for those of us who deal with debilitating anxiety. When Anxiety takes over, Riley shuts down and begins acting in erratic ways, which make so much sense as we see the chaos within her brain. It's a natural but brilliant evolution of what came before, and all of it feels earned and authentic to what we know of these characters as well as what we know of the developing human brain. Much as the first film blew our minds with its personifications and dramatizations of childhood emotions, this film matures those ideas into a really heady mixture of exploration. In fact, even as I tear up thinking about my wracking sobs during a screening of this film, I'm not entirely sure what kids -- presumably the target audience for this animated film -- will really enjoy this film. Sure, it has bright colors and fast action, but its ideas are quite complex and not thoroughly enjoyable, even for adults. It hurts so good, you might say.

That said, it does include genius ideas like the first, which come in rapid succession as Joy and her friends hurry through Riley's subconscious. There are additional characters rendered as other kinds of animation (like in Ralph Breaks the Internet), such as Riley's childhood video game crush or her favorite character from a Blue's Clues or Dora the Explorer type show, and of course her Deep Dark Secret (which I was certain would remain a mystery until the next installment and reveal itself as a crush, probably queer, until the post-credits scene, which reveals it as something so annoyingly dull I'll never speak of it). There's Riley's Mount Crushmore, which you can surely imagine for yourself, and a bizarrely Orwellian scene in Imagination Land. 

Its cleverness never quite lands in the same way as the first film, and so its impact is also lessened. There's never the emotional trauma inflicted by Bing Bong, but frankly I'm okay with that. Especially since the climax, in which Joy and Anxiety have to work together like Joy and Sadness had to previously, is a much-needed balm for anyone as triggered by Anxiety as I was while watching. But what is disappointing to me is that the new emotions other than Anxiety are not given enough time to become memorable like the original five. Envy and Ennui do almost nothing, and while the latter is hilarious, the French caricature wears thin quickly; Embarrassment has key narrative beats to hit, but he's not given much character to mine. Moreover, the thematic beats of individuality and belonging and remaining true to yourself are always good to remember, but do feel a bit trite and quaint at this point. With so many new ideas, those are the big takeaway morals?

And yet I still find myself misty-eyed at the film's denouement, as Joy and Anxiety work together to help Riley more gracefully enter puberty. There's a freedom that comes when her anxiety is checked and she no longer feels the need to succeed over others or impress them. She simply and joyously embraces the sensation of skating on the ice, and it's a cathartic moment of grace after so much havoc. The understated final message of the film, I think, is to embrace simplicity and integrity to yourself. We should all be so fortunate (scratch that: read healthy) to do the things we love to do for its own reward. To be content with our interests and actions when they align and not feel any need to use it for clout or attention or temporary pleasure, to live in the moment and find spiritual sustenance on one's own terms. Happiness and fulfillment are choices we can consciously make. Those are ideas I would love to see manifest in a future installment, because that had me reeling in my seat as the credits rolled.