Inside Out 2 Review – Brings Back Joy, With Ennui On The Sides
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Riley has just turned thirteen, and as if grappling with puberty weren’t complicated enough, her two best friends drop a bombshell: they won’t be in the same school anymore! Enter Anxiety, Ennui, Embarrassment, and Envy—new emotions that come with puberty—who must now share Riley’s head alongside Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust, introduced in the hit animated film “Inside Out” from 2015.
Created by Kelsey Mann, Meg LeFauve, and Dave Holstein, “Inside Out 2” is an entertaining follow-up to the original, with much of the original voice cast reprising their roles. Amy Poehler returns as Joy, the primary emotion influencing Riley’s choices, while my favorite remains the wide-eyed, blue ball of Sadness, voiced by Phyllis Smith. Anger (Lewis Black) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling) are just as unhinged as before.
This time around, the plot follows Riley (Kensington Tallman) as she tries to impress senior players to make the hockey team and make new friends in the new school term. However, Riley’s actions are steered by Anxiety (Maya Hawke), whose character design looks straight out of The Muppet Show – an orange, crazy eyed being with a wildly annoying ponytail. Envy (Ayo Edebiri) is a cute variant of Disgust, but she is smaller and maybe a little bit cuter. Adèle Exarchopoulos gets to be cool kid Ennui, who loves lounging on the couch, and like her name – is a bored teenager who is constantly on her phone. Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser) is a big shy pink guy, who looks like Sadness’ cousin, and keeps to himself. However, the new emotions kick the old ones out of headquarters, so the seniors (Joy and her squad) must find a way back to save Riley from acting out due to the changes puberty brings.
To capitalize on the nostalgia factor of “Inside Out,” the writers introduce an adorable character named Nostalgia, who accidentally steps into Riley’s head for a few seconds. After all, what do 13-year-olds have to do with nostalgia? That emotion is for later years, so Nostalgia is quickly shooed away by the others. Even though Nostalgia isn’t a dominant emotion, viewers will find themselves reminiscing about the first movie, as this sequel follows a similar plotline. Joy and her friends get lost in Riley’s mind again and must find a way back to headquarters to ‘fix’ everything.
If “It’s okay to be sad sometimes” was the primary lesson and theme of the first film, the follow-up has interesting things to say about anxiety—the definite villain in every adult’s life, and, according to “Inside Out 2,” every teen’s too. Maya Hawke’s Anxiety loves to imagine worst-case scenarios and pushes Riley into actions based on insecurities about her future. One of the best scenes is when Anxiety pushes away Joy and the other emotions to take over Riley’s personality. The older characters scream, “You cannot just bottle us up,” but Anxiety realizes that’s a great idea and bottles up all the other emotions to take the driver’s seat—an excellent metaphor for not letting fears dominate one’s life.
“Inside Out 2” is funny, familiar, cute, and all things nice, though it does get a little boring in parts, especially during scenes of the emotions trying to find their way back. On the bright side, Riley gets more scenes than before, allowing us to see her bumble through teenage problems while playing ice hockey and doing her best to impress her coach.
If you liked the first one, “Inside Out 2” is a worthy sequel.
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