9/10

Disney Pixar’s newest home run is a free fall of emotions for the audience, just like the emotion characters that it portrays. Riley is an 11 year old girl with a lot of small voices inside of her head that make her tick. These emotions, Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith),live in the control center inside Riley’s mind, where they help advise her through everyday life. As Riley and her emotions struggle to adjust to a new life in San Francisco, turmoil ensues in the control room. Although Joy, Riley’s main and most important emotion, tries to keep things positive, the emotions conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house and school. This film exceeded my expectations to the highest degree. It had me intrigued, laughing to no end, and even crying during an emotional goodbye scene. The hardest thing for an animated film is to relate such unique characters, but Director Pete Docter has written something beautiful, as well as complex with the fragility of the human mind. Perhaps the most impressive element to me about this film is that i feel adults will benefit more from it than children will. Make no mistake about it, this is a kids movie, but it’s the inside adult humor jokes that push this film in a direction that Pixar doesn’t often go in, at least not for the entirety of the 90 minute sit. The colorful cinematography is very eye appealing to the audience. It goes a long way in even the smallest of pety details with pun landscape jokes in Riley’s psyche. Places like Family Land are decorated in her most meaningful of memories with over the eleven year journey with her parents. The film does suffer from some re-occuring structure themes, but it’s nothing to ever truly weigh the film down. The movie gives us a scene in Riley’s life and then lets our colorful personalities react to it. While this is the main idea behind the film, it’s very predictable to the point of waiting for each scene to cut to the reaction. Even more important than everything i have mentioned, the casting for the voice work is absolutely 100% brilliant. Lewis Black has become famous for his angry stand up schtick that he is often associated (at least in this critic’s mind) as the real voice of anger. Poehler is charmingly witty as the main direction in Riley’s head, and she plays Joy as someone much deeper than just a stereotype. If there is one person who owns this film though, it’s Smith’s monotone reactions to anything presented to her. When i first saw the trailer, i thought Sadness would be the most annoying part of the film, and boy was i wrong. Phyllis has been an accomplished TV actress for over a decade with roles in Arrested Development and The Office, but Inside Out is her coming out party. She is at her most talented with picture perfect comedic timing despite the negative nature of her character. Inside Out is entertaining to it’s audience, while offering something sentimental just below the surface. On top of it all, it’s a perfectly paced film that demands future re-watches to find the little details in art design that you may have missed during the innagural showing. If your inner conscience is telling you to give this film a chance, follow those voices and check out the year’s best animated feature.