Inside Out – 5/5 – Movie Reviews by Ry!
Inside Out – 5/5 – Pixar is a studio that creates some of the most intuitive and creative films ever made. When a movie is released under the Pixar brand, you get something that’s filled with a lot of imagination, story and qualitative depth. It has been a couple years since Pixar has released a film; even longer since there has been a true Pixar film. That has changed with this latest entry in a long list of magnificent films. Inside Out does not only recapture that Pixar aura, but it brings you into an aspiring world through the eyes of an imaginative direction. With every kind of emotion captured in pristine nature; Inside Out is a stand out among the films of 2015; and definitely a front runner for best picture of the year.
Premise: After a very dramatic move, Riley and her emotions are at a conflict moment in her life. With so much new things in her life, her personified emotions must work together before Riley is loose her memories forever.
At the heart of this film are the emotions within Reilly’s head. The following are the voice of those characters:
Amy Poehler as Joy
Phllis Smith as Sadness
Bill Hader as Fear
Lewis Black as Anger
Mindy Kaling as Disgust
The personified emotions within her heard are the heart/core of this film’s story. The ravishing and soothing complexion from these five comes from the complimentary behavior they have together. The chemistry is what draws you into their sensationalize world (within the head of Riley), as well as creating the complex situation within the simple nature of emotions. You feel the purpose of each of them on an individual scale, as well as see how much they are needed to each other. The compliment of ’emotions’ helps pull out there raw nature, as all five need to always work together to help Riley through a tough situation. The great thing is that you also feel the purpose in the personified emotions. There is depth in anguish, and strength in all the fragility. For everything that could have been clichéd, it turns into a deeper meaning for things within the story. When it comes to the human voices, you have as followed:
Kaitlyn Dias as Riley
Diane Lane as the Mom
Kyle Maclachlan as the Dad
The greatness from having the focus on the personified emotions is the fact that it helps greatly in complimenting perfectly what’s happening in the human world. The whole ‘fluid’ sensation flows greatly between both worlds. You get to see how the ‘family’ situations flow perfectly with the emotions that live within their heads. The situations are familiar, which grips you greatly. That familiar sense of family, upheaval and human crisis (even in simplistic nature) adds to the level of psychology that is brought to a point of amazing directive and visual conception (explained later). When it comes to the secondary cast, they are all whimsical, if not amazingly welcomed distraction to this film. The rest of the characters that are created within Riley’s head, as well as in her own human world help bring an aspect of personal definition, even in its imaginative creation. To create a world like this is beyond comprehension, but providing characters that seem believable creates something that’s aesthetic in nature. The depth in everything that isn’t part of the ‘main cast’ is a remarkable feat, but also adds to the fantastical nature that is created around this story.
The direction doesn’t take on an original concept. A ‘look into someone minds’ isn’t a novel idea, and something that could have brought the film’s enjoyment to just general entertainment. What pushes this film beyond that basic draw is the ‘world’ that is built around the story. The director takes us on a journey that shows abstraction of realism; a place that’s believable in its own nature. The film is built around the premise of this girl named Riley; and how (from birth) grows up in her humble beginnings in Minnesota. Within this growth, we watch as the emotional development grows within her, through the personification of her basic emotions (Joy, Anger, Sadness, Disgust and Fear). As the prologue goes along, it introduces us to the conception of the world of these emotions, and how they ‘guide’ Riley through her every day life. It shows us how memories are captures, thoughts are processed and dreams occur. After the concept and plot points are laid out, we are introduced to the stories ‘conflict’ when Riley and her family move to San Francisco. This causes a conflict of perspectives as her emotions start to have real conflict with each others. This leads to an emotional breakdown that is both relative and imaginative. What happens in the conflict is both Joy and Sadness get lost within Riley’s ‘mind’, and must find a way back to headquarters before they are (along with core memories) are lost within Riley’s memories. Through these specific plot points; it shows (imaginatively) how emotions control humans, and how these ‘personified’ emotions come into conflict because of changes that happen in life, including age. We get to see the ‘true’ nature of an adolescent girl, one that is wrecked with an array of emotions because of her age as well as the sudden ‘move’ from everything she knew. This is where the conflict as well as the driving purpose of the story is in its rawest form. It gives the audience a range of believable situations, ones that show how the ‘happiest’ moments can cause the most ‘saddest’ of feelings. It also shows how those memories can define you in different ways. This is when the film takes its basic concept to a place that is something truly mesmerizing. The journey that occurs here is simplistic enough to be viewed by younger audiences, but also something that has meaningful purpose for older audiences. The psychological concepts that transpire here are brought through in the most abstract ways; where you get to escape into a world filled with imaginative color, creativity and intuitive senses that are self aware, creating something that is real. The depth behind the direction and story is brought together cleverly so that you can understand the concepts. You understand the reason behind all the emotional reactions within Riley, and why everything that is ‘fateful’ beyond her own control is throwing everything out of a perfect alignment within her mind. As much as there is purpose to have ‘Joy’ in your life; it is also important to embrace the ‘sadness’. This film redefines how thematic a film can be, but also blend it in within the most imaginative way possible. The embracement of colorful ingenuity with a ‘familiar’ purpose is what defines a great Pixar film; how it captures raw humanistic quality within the world of animation. This film (in particular) shows what truly is ‘behind the curtains’ when it comes to defining what we see in the ideals of family, friendship and gripping with changes while not loosing those ‘memories’ in the process. As much as I can continue into more explanation, this film simply provides a wealth of relative concepts in the ‘escapism’ of its story on the big screen. At the heart of everything, doing this is what can push a film’s basic draw and relative concepts to something touching, endearing and truly inspirational. Once the film hits its climax and leads into the epilogue, everything that led up to this point shows why it had to happen. You (audience) come to fully understand what sacrifices can do to people, as well as their memories. You learn that things may be lost, but true emotions aren’t ever lost.
The visuals are beyond breathtaking. Through the use of animation, we get a creative world within ‘Riley’s mind’ as well as the general human world that compliments this. You get a sense of raw vigor and paralleling purpose. Each concept is brought into the spectrum of visual appeal, which you see how everything stands out through original creations combine with relativity. That irony of this shows us the complex nature of the ’emotional’ world when it comes to paralleling things to the real world. You are drawn by a combination of colorful lighting and visual poignancy; one that doesn’t push into ‘over abundance’ but creates something just ‘as is’ if this was how it was in reality. The score is magical in all its form, adding to the level of amazement of the characters, story and visual aspects.
Inside Out is a film that recaptures the essence of what makes Pixar film’s great. From everything that is built from the emotional characters, to the riveting story; you will not find another film that is as smart in it’s on directive, but also creatively fun and enjoying on an entertaining scale. This is by far one of the best film’s of the year, one of the best films from Pixar, and my favorite film (thus far) of 2015. This is a great time for everyone at the theaters. No matter who you are, you will find something amazingly meaningful here.