Inside Out 2

Who wants to go on another mind trip? I've seen the box-office results, so I know a lot of you have said yes. Those who haven't yet are in for a good time with Pixar's personified emotions. Let's get into Inside Out 2 and you might see what I mean.

Riley Andersen (Kensington Tallman, tagging in for Kaitlyn Dias) and her personified emotions - Joy, Sadness, Anger (Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith & Lewis Black), Fear and Disgust (Tony Hale & Liza Lapira, tagging in for Bill Hader and Mindy Kaling, respectively) - are celebrating her thirteenth birthday. The emotions keep Riley's sense of self, represented by a crystal ball, while they throw away bad memories in the darkest depths of her mind. Riley and her besties, Bree and Grace (Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green & Grace Lu), head off to summer hockey camp to qualify for the big shot varsity team, the Firehawks. Easy, right? Of course not.

Riley's "puberty alarm" goes off the night before camp, and the emotions soon discover that their slightest influences cause her to overreact. They find themselves sharing their headquarters with four new emotions: Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edeberi), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos) and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser). Anxiety takes over the Riley operation after Riley discovers that her besties are moving away. Anxiety and the others create a new "cautious" sense of self for Riley, discards the old one, and literally bottles up their predecessors. Their improvements overwhelm Riley, so it's up to the regular emotions to take back control before it's too late.

This marks the feature debut of director Kelsey Mann, a story supervisor since Monsters University, who also co-wrote the film with Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein. Their journey into Riley's mind is just as memorable as the first film's journey. Their new mental gags, which include a "brainstorm" of raining lightbulbs and a "sar-chasm," are visually and verbally clever.  A few new mental characters, the brooding bad boy parody Lance Slashblade (Yong Yea), and the over saccharine cartoon duo of Bloofy and Pouchy (Ron Funches and James Austin Johnson) are quite amusing. That's all well and good for the mental world, but what about the real world?

Riley gets a strong storyline as she deals with her fluctuating emotions. It's quite moving when we see her memory of meeting Grace and Bree, and that friendship remains compelling even as it gets tested. She gravitates towards Firehawk captain Val Ortiz (Lilimar) and tries her best to look cool with her. Val is already pretty friendly, so it stings knowing how much of her (and Anxiety's) effort is unnecessary. It's quite the betrayal when Riley disses her and her besties' favorite band in front of them. While Riley's mood swings can get amusing, nobody's laughing when Anxiety's influence causes her to have a prolonged panic attack. The inevitable reconciliation is just as moving as that flashback. You'll just have to see what I mean.

Anxiety maybe the ostensible villain, but even she's sympathetic as she starts fretting over the future. Still, a few of her bad thoughts are morbidly hilarious, as is the film's representation of her bad idea center. Riley's panic attack is caused by Anxiety working the controls so fast she causes a cyclone. That scene is as impressive as it is scary. You'll also be moved when Joy gets Anxiety out of her own panic attack. Anxiety's Muppet-like visage is the cuddliest of the already appealing character designs and rendering for the new emotions. 

What else about the other emotions? Joy is still the same embodiment of happiness - even under pressure - that she was in the first film. Sadness's odd friendship with Embarrassment is a rather nice one. Envy's childlike personality is a unique characterization for her emotion (she's not even the least bit mean). Anger's temper maybe funny, but you'll be amazed by his bits of compassion. Fear, Disgust and Ennui are just there, though Ennui's droll line deliveries are fun to listen to. Did I mention there's a fifth new emotion? That would be Nostalgia (June Squibb), whose brief cameos are oddly amusing comic relief. 

Let's not forget the score, whether it's Michael Giacchino's returning themes, or the new material by Andrea Datzman, to guide us through the good and bad times. There's plenty of each I've had to leave out of this review. Just watch Inside Out 2 as soon as you can, and you'll get the rest. You won't be disappointed by what Pixar has conjured up this time. I'm disappointed, however, that their next film, Ellio, has been stranded in space for another year, but that's for that review. Onwards to the next one.