Inside Out 2 review – Once more, with (more) feeling

2015 animated film Inside Out was an Oscar-winning smash hit for Pixar, and became an instant talking point due to the way it provided a framework to help parents and children communicate about difficult feelings. Nine years later, Inside Out 2 adds and expands on the emotional journey that accompanies growing up. 

Taking place a year after the events of the first film, our heroine Riley (voiced by Kensington Tallman) has just turned 13. Riley’s five emotions are working in harmony with each other to make Riley a happy, well-rounded pre-teen. Joy (Amy Poehler) still takes centre stage as Riley’s main driving force, but Anger (Lewis Black), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Disgust (Liza Lapira, replacing Mindy Kaling) and Fear (Tony Hale, replacing Bill Hader) all have their important roles to play. With Joy’s guiding hand, Riley’s inner voices are coming together to provide a core belief about who she is and how she views herself. Which is all going well until the onset of that great parental bane: puberty. 

As if the hormones wrecking the headquarters of Riley’s mind wasn’t enough to deal with, four new emotions also show up: pint-size Envy (Ayo Edebiri), eye-rolling Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), adorable Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), and their frazzled, spiky leader Anxiety (Maya Hawke). Intruding on Joy’s vision for Riley, Anxiety and the gang soon take over, as teenage emotions are wont to do. 

To be perfectly honest, the basic plot of Inside Out 2 is a retread of the first film. The different emotions are at loggerheads with each other while trying to establish a balance, there’s a contrived reason for Joy and the original emotions to leave HQ and restore Riley’s personality, and a tour of the inner workings of Riley’s mind is an excuse to pack in some amusing puns and visual gags (the sar-chasm and the literal stream of consciousness are standouts). 

In no real surprise, the animation is once again superb in Inside Out 2. It shows off the lovingly rendered and expressive emotions against detailed, vibrant backdrops, throwing in some 2D cartoons and blocky 3D video-game characters from the depths of Riley’s imagination for good measure. 

Much like the first film, as lighthearted as the funny moments are this time around, there’s a deceptively profound story being told. However, like Riley herself, the narrative playing out in Inside Out 2 is far more mature. The plot beats may be irritatingly familiar on a surface level, but the meaning runs far deeper. As a sequel, Inside Out doesn’t need to spend as much time laying the groundwork for how people’s inner world works, so we can skip straight to the heart of the matter, which is to say how growing up and finding yourself while under the influence of chaotic hormones is incredibly challenging. 

Something that Inside Out 2 does differently this time around is that we get to see more of Riley herself. Showing Riley’s real-time reactions as a consequence of her emotional decision-making was present in the first film, but the sequel goes out of its way to mesh these two halves together, making the young woman a far more comprehensive character – at the same time it smartly avoids certain toxic tropes associated with teen girl experience. This storytelling approach also serves to drive home a sense of empathy, as we get to see how seemingly benign outer behaviour is driven by inner turmoil. 

Of inner turmoil, there is plenty in Inside Out 2. Obviously the film can’t crowd in the hundreds of different emotions that a person may experience, so the nine main emotions have to stand in as simplified (and sometimes less nuanced) expressions of more complex feelings. In this, Anxiety is the star of the show. Serving as Joy’s main “antagonist”, Anxiety is intensely relatable, and Maya Hawke’s raspy, breathless performance is as much of a highlight as it is uncomfortably familiar. 

Unfortunately, introducing new emotions also introduces some plot holes – namely that if Anxiety and co. are a natural part of growing up, why have we not seen anyone but the original five emotions in the film’s adults? This is more a consequence of paring down the original Inside Out to the five biggest emotions for the sake of streamlining, but given the dominant message that people are complicated, it’s hard to dismiss the question, and sadly, there’s no satisfactory answer offered by the film. Inside Out 2 plays it somewhat safe in this regard, and doesn’t even attempt to tackle some of the other consequences of puberty, barring a comment from Riley’s mom about wearing more deodorant. But to be fair, both the film and Riley’s mind are crowded enough as it is. 

In a world of multiple sequels and never-ending franchise entries, Inside Out 2 could be seen as Pixar cashing in on existing IP, rather than seeking out new and original stories. However, on watching, it’s easy to disagree with that sentiment. In spite of its flaws, not only does the film recapture the magic of its predecessor in a different way, it goes one better by maturing its storytelling and its protagonists. Some will say that no one wanted a sequel to Inside Out. Maybe so, but we needed it. 

Inside Out 2 will once again give parents and children a fantastic framework to discuss the new, heightened emotions brought on by puberty without being overly preachy. Plus, importantly, it spotlights and explores the awkward (and sometimes scary) phase of becoming a teenager without being dismissive. 

Inside Out 2 is in cinemas from Friday, 14 June.