Intelligently heart-warming

Johnson Thomas

This is Pixar’s 15th feature length animation movie and is unarguably it’s best effort yet. A stunningly original concept that is designed with care and deep understanding of a child’s psyche and the emotions

that run with it. So, through this film we discover the back-end of human function- the place in the brain that controls our behavior and attitudes. Riley is depressed about her family’s move from Minnesota to San Francisco. And those emotions are shown as being determined by the interplay between five toon characters that symbolise those key emotions of childhood. Joy ( Amy Poehler), Sadness(Phyllis Smith). Fear( Bill Hader), Disgust( Mandy Kaling) and Anger(Louis Black) are part of the master control room set-up in which they jostle with each other to navigate a motivated path for young Riley. Unfortunately, Sadness rubs them the wrong way and everything just seems to be deteriorating thereafter. ‘Inside Out’ set inside the mind of a 11-year-old girl is an animated

comedy adventure that scores its highpoints mainly from the sheer genius of its concept. The writing is entertaining, the 3D effects have depth and the dimensions allow for complete believability. The

animation concept, ideology and design convergence is exemplary. It’s by far the best we’ve been witness to and really sends out all the right signals. The form is both exploratory and analytical-thus allowing for 

fulsome adventure with all the thrills, hits and misses

of a high-energy and live action thriller.  It’s not a happy film because for most of the runtime Riley is grappling with depression and we get to see how it all goes wrong in her head. Eventually, like all fantasy

adventures, there’s a happy ending and that’s what makes the experience more gratifying for a young audience. This is a heart-warmer that’s both a sensory delight and intelligently entertaining.