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Inside Out
The inner workings of the mind are a
mysterious thing. No one fully understands our brains and what they are capable
of. It is estimated we only use roughly 10-20% of our minds capacity, so that
makes me wonder, what is the other 80-90% used for? We may never know. But for
now at least, if you would like to take a journey into the mind of an eleven
year old girl, then you owe it to yourself to watched “Inside Out”.
The first of two films to be released by
animation genius’s Pixar this year (the second is “The Good Dinosaur” which has
just been released) this film was a true return to form for the studio who
started off with a bang in “Toy Story”, now celebrating its twentieth
anniversary – crap, that makes me feel old. They had a steady climb to even higher
heights with classics like “Finding Nemo”, “The Incredibles” and “Up”. Then in
more recent years, they hit a bit of a lull, making good but not great sequels
to former creations (“Cars 2”, “Monsters University”) and a couple of hits and
misses, i.e. “Brave” and “”Ratatouille”. “Toy Story 3” was probably the best
sequel and close to the best of their films ever released. That is until this
year when we were graced with the presence of a special film that is like
nothing you’ve ever seen.
When people tell you Inside Out is one
of the best and most original movies ever made, not just by Pixar standards,
but in the history of movies, they’re not talking it up. Believe the hype. This
is a movie everyone will see at one point, and if you haven’ yet, make the time
to do so. The levels of creativity ingenuity, intelligence, comedy, heartfelt
emotion and brilliant story telling on display here is simply second to none.
It’s known that Pixar take their time developing ideas and stories, which
results in the predominantly high standard of films they create, and Inside Out
now shares the podium with Toy Story in terms of breaking new ground in
animation (and films all together) as well as pure, unadulterated imagination.
Okay, you can tell I thought this movie
was awesome. You would have seen in the link to this review I recommended you
only read this if you have seen it. I know some people who haven’t seen the
film will read this, so I opened up the review with that encouraging spiel on
the film. Now, if you haven’t seen the film, you might want to stop reading
here, because I am going to quote and refer to many scenes and moments in
detail, because Inside Out is not just a film I will review and move on from;
it is a film that warrants ongoing discussion long after the credits have
rolled, and here, I will kick start that conversation with you, dear reader.
As you know, the film takes place almost
entirely in the mind of a little girl called Riley. We meet her the moment she
is born, and as she opens her eyes for the first time, her mind is awakened.
Cue Joy, the emotion that lives in her brain and sees what Riley sees. She’s
called Joy because, well, she is just full of Joy. Always happy, positive and
upbeat. Joy isn’t alone, as even during her earliest days, Riley displays other
emotions, including Sadness, Anger, Disgust and Fear. The visual representation
and characterizations of these emotions is so well done, you are instantly
hooked into this film as it moves swiftly into proceedings. The inside of
Riley’s mind, and every persons mind for that matter, is like the deck of the
Starship Enterprise from Star Trek. There is a command console, a large screen
which transmits an ongoing live feed of what Riley sees, and many other gadgets
and gizmos that are running and responding to Riley’s mind on a constant basis
– except for when she’s asleep, and things simply go quiet. The characters go
about their business inside Riley’s mind, and explain the inner workings of the
girls brain as they go, but this is not done in a way to just inform the
audience of the stories perspective or own unique rules. The creativity is
worked into the story brilliantly well, with each reveal and clever turn coming
at you fast and fun.
Whatever Riley sees, hears or does, the
emotions jump in and control her mind via the console. Each of them takes the
controls when it is their moment to shine. Anger is visualized in the form of a
small, gruff looking man, with a business shirt and tie, and a surly voice that
is the embodiment of a stressed out and grumpy, middle-aged working class man –
genius. Fear is more or less a nerdy looking teenager, with an uneven voice who
reacts to the smallest changes in movement. Disgust is your average teenager
girl, who finds disgust in every situation, and is always the first to
criticise things just for being gross – eew! Then the two most predominant
emotions in Riley’s life at this stage are Joy and Sadness. Joy (voiced to
perfection by Amy Poehler) has been at the forefront of Riley’s mind for the
first eleven years of her life, and is more or less the leader of the team of
fellow feelings. She runs a tight ship, and does everything she can to ensure
Riley stays happy. This is controlled by the close supervision and control of
Riley’s core memories; the handful of memories for her young life that have
gone on to form the aspects of her personality.
These memories come in the shape of
small, crystal balls and take on the colour of each emotion; Joy is yellow,
Anger is Red, Disgust is Green, Fear is purple and Sadness is blue. Outside of
the control room, lies a never ending world where the many other complex parts
of the human mind operate in their own way. I could go on and on in describing
the visual details of this world, but I won’t waste time with that as you've
seen the film (and if you haven’t stop reading this now and go watch the
film!). And as you know, Sadness takes centre stage when Riley faces the first
major change of her life; her dad being transferred to work, which ships the
family from the snowy-white tranquil life of Minnesota State, to the bustling,
loud and crazy city life of San Francisco. When things don’t start well, new
memories are formed in Riley’s mind, causing the emotions inside her to
experience an upheaval of new feelings that they are not used to, throwing all
of them off balance. In a desperate bid to keep things as they were, Joy takes
charge to save Riley’s core memories, but is swept away into the realm of her
mind, along with Sadness, forcing them to find a way back to the control room
before Riley’s mind completely changes, and her two most predominant feelings –
Joy and Sadness – are lost forever.
The story continues to move quickly from
here, barely resting for a moment as we the viewers are taken on a journey
unlike any other committed to film. Think what you will of the human mind;
either you see it as a pulp of mass sitting inside your skull, or a small orb
that does stuff occasionally, or perhaps you like to drown out its noise with
distractions. Whatever your relationship is with your mind, one thing’s for
sure; it is a deeply fascinating and amazing place, which is responsible for
everything you’ve experience and felt in your lifetime, and is the mother of
creation. Understanding the mind is probably the hardest, yet the most
important challenges mankind has ever dared to face. We still know so little
about our brains; how they operate, why they work the way they do, and where
things go over time. In the case of long term memories, or things you learnt
when you a kid that aren’t relevant anymore, Inside Out says they go to a deep,
dark place and never return. This is the place Joy and Sadness do everything in
their power to avoid, but comes to be the place where the answer to their
dilemma will be revealed.
As Riley continues to try and adjust to
her new life, minus the emotions of Joy and Sadness, she experiences what can
only be best described as depression. Yes, even children can get depressed, and
it is usually brought about by a major disruption in their growth and feeling
alone or abandoned in some way. Moving from one side of the country to the
other, where everything is new and different, no one wants to be her friend,
and her parents don’t seem to notice, Riley disengages from everything and
everyone around her. While Joy and Sadness try to get back to her, Anger,
Disgust and Fear run the show from the command centre, so you get to see what a
young child does when all they feel is angry, disgusted and afraid of
everything going on around them. She sees no joy in her experience, and it goes
beyond sadness, which is where depression lies. It’s a powerful statement made
by the filmmakers and not one Pixar has tackled before, so well done to them
for tackling a very relevant issues in today’s world, but exploring it within
the realm of their animation playground. It makes the topic much more
understandable for children and is a great way to get them talking about the
notion of feeling depressed or having depression. It shouldn’t be a topic of
shame to be swept under the rug, but rather open for discussion and made aware
that anyone and everyone can experience it at some point, and that’s okay.
As for the character of Joy, she won’t
stand for this and despite the impending doom of their situation as they watch
the world of Riley’s mind crumble around them, she tries to stay upbeat. But
Joy learns a valuable lesson, that no matter what feeling or emotion you try to
cling onto the most, it can’t last forever, and it can only exist if it’s polar
opposite is in alignment with it. Huh? What do you mean Brian? I’ll explain.
There was a reason Joy and Sadness got lost in Riley’s mind together; they are
complete opposites. Joy tries to lift Sadness up when she’s down, and Sadness
challenges Joy’s beliefs when she’s too high and elated. Their individual
purposes and relationship are a perfect match, and each of them learns from
each other. For the first time in her existence, Joy will feel sad, and Sadness
will experience happiness, and each of them come to learn that even despite the
other three feelings present, it is Joy and Sadness who are jointly responsible
for the formation of most of Riley’s core memories. This is not easily accepted
by Joy at the start, but once out of her comfort zone, she sees what Sadness is
truly capable of, and even the least desirable feeling of them all can also
serve a purpose – feeling blue ain’t a bad thing.
The message at the heart of Inside Out
is that change is inevitable. Change is hard and will bring with it a feeling
that can dominate the experience. It can be hard to feel happiness in the
darkest times. It can be easy to feel sad even when things are going good. And
there’s nothing wrong with getting angry, feeling afraid or being shocked with
disgust either. Every feeling serves a purpose. And the age old question of
“Are we in control of our feelings or do they control us?” that’s been pondered
for ages is addressed in Inside Out. For the sake of the movie, the feelings
inside Riley seem to be controlling her via their console, which is more of a
gimmicky thing but also a clever way to portray that each of us has our own set
of buttons that get pushed every day. Sometimes we react, without control and
the emotions run the show. Other times we can respond, pause and think about
what to do next. The first way is easy, the latter is harder, but which one is
the right way?
I don’t think there is a right way when
it comes to feelings. They are what they are. They surface at odd times. They
can be responsible for the biggest choices we make, and as displayed so
brilliantly in this film, are responsible for forming the core memories we
recall on and define who we are.
I can’t recommend this movie highly
enough. Find ninety minutes and watch it, with your family, your children, your
friends or even at work if it’s relevant to what you do. Even though it’s a
film about thinking more or less, you don’t need to think too much while
watching it, as the story is told so well and visualized so brilliantly, you
can simply switch off and go along for the ride. And it’s an incredible ride.
One you will want to experience time and time again. I know I will.
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