Inside Out 2

Pixar’s imagination continues to know no bounds and Inside Out 2 gives us their best sequel since the Toy Story franchise.

After a recent run of movies that, perhaps, haven’t been as talked about as they should have been (from Onward to Elemental) this feels like a sure-fire critical and commercial banker.

In my estimation, the first Inside Out actually comes out right at the top of Pixar’s luminous and esteemed catalogue and, whilst this film doesn’t quite top the first one, it’s a supreme follow up.

Jumping forward to puberty and introducing new emotions as Riley heads to a summer hockey camp enables the same blend of wit, puns, relatable moments and touching sentiment as the first film.

An opening ‘reintroduction’ to that merry band of emotions is a little unnecessary (but I guess this is, ostensibly, still a ‘family/kids’ film) and spending more time in the ‘real world’ outside of Riley’s mind, whilst entirely appropriate for the film, just brings it down a peg.

However, they once again absolutely nail the experience of feeling new emotions and growing up.

Everything just makes complete sense and the depiction of Anxiety as the ‘leader’ of this new group is perfectly drawn (and, importantly, never feels like a lecture or anything other than realistic.)

Other, similar TV shows have come out in the meantime and have, arguably, matched and taken forward what Pixar did with the first film (looking at you, Big Mouth and Human Resources) but, as a sequel to a top-tier, all time great movie, Inside Out 2 is a joy (pun intended).

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️