'Inside Out 2' Makes the Hellscape of Middle School Anxiety Charming and Fun

When we last saw Riley in Inside Out, she was processing her existence as a 12-year-old through the lens of five emotions: joy, sadness, fear, disgust and anger. As anyone who has spent more than 10 minutes with a 13-year-old can tell you, though, the tween mind is an often terrifying place that's home to many more than five warring feelings. Inside Out 2 sets out to examine that pubescent self, introducing a new slate of emotions and subjecting our heroine to the rigors of the middle school-to-high school transition.

Inside Out was primarily a power struggle between Joy (a perfectly cast Amy Poehler) and Sadness (a perhaps even more perfectly cast Phyllis Smith), but after the pair grow to understand the importance of each other, they seem to have built a healthy, fully functioning Riley in the year since. They are of course aided by Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale replacing Bill Hader) and Disgust (Liza Lapira replacing Mindy Kaling). Inside Out 2, however, begins with a puberty buzzer going off (while Riley preps for a three-day, pre-high school summer hockey camp no less). Enter four new emotions with an orange, frizzy-haired Anxiety (played delightfully by Maya Hawke) leading the pack. The sequel's chief battle of wills then is between Joy and Anxiety as they each aim to shape Riley's "Sense of Self" with "core beliefs" of their choosing. While Joy wants Riley to simply have fun at hockey camp, the constantly doom-forecasting Anxiety believes that the trajectory of Riley's entire life is based on a voluntary skills camp for tweens (relatable).

The movie's plot, therefore, begins when Anxiety and her henchmen banish the original five emotions to a vault for secrets buried deep in Riley's mind. With Anxiety spinning up a slew of worst-case scenarios and sending Riley into a spiral, the others must trek through a series of mental landscapes (including a sarCHASM, a brainSTORM and an imagination work station reminiscent of the 1984 Apple commercial) in order to stop Anxiety before it's too late. Along the way they bump into several genius supporting characters including a Dora the Explorer/Blue's Clues-inspired pairing of Bloofy and his fanny pack Pouchy, a Final Fantasy video game character Riley previously had a crush on and an old woman version of Nostalgia. Brought to life with unique animation styles, they remind viewers of just how creative Pixar can be when they aren't focused on selling plushies.

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As a whole, Inside Out 2 mostly succeeds even if it doesn't ever quite meet the highs of the original. Pixar has been in a slump as of late with the likes of Onward, Luca, Lightyear and Elemental underperforming after several years of mid sequels like Finding Dory, Cars 3 and Toy Story 4. Inside Out 2 is by no means a revelation, but it is funny, smartly constructed and a zippy 96 minutes. While it doesn't quite have the emotional heft of the Bing Bong moment from the original, it also sidesteps the artificially infused pathos that has become so standard for Pixar as of late. The movie doesn't try too hard to make audiences cry and rather sticks to a tone more akin to Monsters, Inc. or A Bug's Life than more recent titles. The script from Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein is tight with plenty of jokes and clever uses of mental concepts.

Much of the success of Inside Out 2 should also be heaped on the cast, who really liven up the dialogue. In the current era of celebrity-driven casting for animated movies that prioritizes big names over vocal prowess, this cast somehow brings both to the table. Poehler and Smith are exceptional again, but Hawke really proves herself as a capable vocal to rival them. Ayo Edebiri is fun (even if her character Envy is underdeveloped and mostly functions as a sidekick for Anxiety), but the real MVP is Blue Is the Warmest Color's Adèle Exarchopoulos as Ennui. Whoever hired her should be campaigned for the new casting Oscar, as her French accent is weaponized for the "bored cool girl" part of the teenage mind.

Arguably the best movie of the modern Pixar era is Turning Red, which so brilliantly focuses on the concept of girlhood and the unique difficulties of growing up as a girl with girlfriends, a mother, pop star crushes, beauty standards and of course the arrival of "that time of the month." After decades of mostly male coming-of-age stories, this has been a welcome trend refresh that's also sparked success with Eighth Grade, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret and The Babysitters Club. Inside Out 2 slots nicely into this pantheon as director Kelsey Mann focuses on the tricky friendship dynamics between tween girls. Do you stick with your old dorky friends from childhood? Do you try to befriend the cooler older girls by dumping your former friends? Do you possibly have a crush on an older girl that you don't know is a crush because you haven't really delved into your sexuality and so you think you just want to be like her when perhaps your feelings might be something else? (Just me?) Inside Out 2 isn't afraid to show the best and worst parts of a young girl's mind.

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With the rise of mental health awareness since Inside Out in 2015, Inside Out 2 also seems like a sequel with something important to say. And while yes, it most certainly is a cash grab, it feels less flagrantly so than previous Pixar sequels. Openly discussing anxiety in a children's movie is quietly monumental and potentially life-changing for young audiences. Kids movies of the 1990s certainly weren't introducing the concepts of panic attacks and self care.

While Inside Out 2 might lack the emotional gut punch of some of Pixar's previous entries, it's short, sweet and competently crafted. It's a kids movie that works for all ages (unlike Soul, which seems like a strictly adult affair), and that expertly tackles topics of mental health and growing up without ever sacrificing fun. While it might not be in the top echelon of Pixar titles, it's also not one of their worst, and for now that's a much needed win for the studio.

Rating: B

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