by Joseph Rossi
2015 finally has one true movie masterpiece.
Pixar has done it again. Inside Out is the best film they have ever made. A true wonder and totally original.
Five emotions, Joy ( Amy Poehler), Sadness ( Phyllis Smith) , Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black) and Disgust ( Mindy Laling) find themselves as the emotional core for a young girl from Minnesota named Riley. Together they work together to shape Riley through her memories. One day, Riley’s father takes a job in San Francisco and that means that Riley and her family have to relocate. Or course Riley isn’t thrilled and the 5 emotions must try everything in their power to help Riley cope.
Directors Pete Doctor and Ronnie Del Carmen made a film that appeals to adults more then I believe then it will appeal to young children. I think they’ll be amused by the colourful, relatable characters but the film is really an ode to growing up and the loss of innocence, more a bittersweet thing for a parent to watch then a child. Never did I feel, as in many animated films, talked down too. The film brims with intelligence but never fails to be the comedy it is meant to be. The film is downright hilarious, with most of the big laughs, ironically, coming from Phyllis Smith’s sadness. She has a deadpan delivery that couples well with Polher’s exuberant and optimistic Joy.
The action takes place in Riley’s mind, cleverly interweaving heartfelt and personal passages about loss and memory that, coupled with a trippy style of animation, are beautiful to behold. There is a sequence with one of Riley’s long lost imaginary friends named Bing Bong that had me in tears. One of the most honest and touching scenes in recent memory.
The Pixar filmmakers have made a movie for the ages. After the the studio’s last three good but rather underwhelming films, here is something that is not based on a comic book, is not a sequel or part of a franchise. It takes guts to make a film that doesn’t have those criteria. Pixar is a brave and risk taking studio and we should be so lucky if their next 10 films are as masterful as Inside Out.
