Review: ‘Inside Out 2’ is a real winner with positive messages about emotions, jokes for all ages

By Matt Pascarella

Rated: PG
Runtime: 1 hour, 36 minutes

It’s been 11 years since we first met Riley in the first “Inside Out” film. She’s now officially a teenager as she prepares for high school while attending a hockey camp. Her current emotions of Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness are smoothly operating inside her. When the Puberty Alarm sounds and new emotions Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment and Ennui come aboard, they make Riley’s life complex. Anxiety takes hold of Riley and things get out of control. Joy and the crew must get to Riley’s sense of self before it’s too late.

“Inside Out 2” stars Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, Kensington Tallman, Liza Lapria, Tony Hale, Lewis Black, Phyllis Smith, Ayo Edebiri, Lilimar, Adele Exarchopoulos, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan, Paul Walter Hauser, Yvette Nicole Brown and Ron Funches.

Teenager Riley (Tallman) is playing an intense game of hockey. Her emotions of Joy (Poheler), Fear (Hale), Anger (Black), Disgust (Lapira) and Sadness (Smith) are helping to keep Riley in check. She’s the top of her class and is a really kind person. Her original five emotions are helping to protect Riley. As she grows up her memories are creating beliefs, and her beliefs are creating a sense of self.

When the high school hockey coach (Brown) invites her to a hockey camp, she sees it as a promising chance for her to show how good she is.

Out of nowhere, the Puberty Alarm sounds, and everything goes off the rails. A demolition crew comes in and starts ripping Riley’s command center apart.

New emotions of Anxiety (Hawke), Envy (Edebiri), Embarrassment (Hauser) and Ennui (Exarchopoulos) become a part of Riley. On her way to hockey camp, Riley gets some upsetting news.

At the hockey camp, Riley meets the star high school hockey player, Val (Lilimar). Val is very nice to her and Riley picks hanging out with Val over hanging out with her friends, Bree and Grace.

Over time, the new emotions want to rebuild Riley’s sense of self. The new emotions bottle up the old emotions. This makes Riley experience a lot of change. Riley has trouble fitting in.

“Inside Out 2” features a lot of jokes for kids and adults; one of my favorites is when the ‘old’ emotions are heading down Riley’s stream of consciousness and encounter a sar-chasm, which creates problems for the original five emotions. They also come across a rumor mill and Mount Crushmore featuring boys Riley likes. The dialogue that accompanies the discovery of these places is extremely well-written.

Anger accuses Joy of being delusional on their way to save Riley from Anxiety’s takeover. Anxiety is using Riley’s imagination against her. It’s not about who Riley is, it’s about who she needs to be. Joy doesn’t know if she can stop Anxiety.

What a phenomenal movie; full of laughs, lessons and, in typical Pixar fashion, heart. Like most movies Pixar has released in the last 10-plus years, this one really works on a level that appeals to kids and adults. The characters are funny, and this movie does a good job explaining various emotions to a younger audience. What really stood out to me was the incredibly intelligent dialogue and storyline as well as the off-handed comments made by these characters that really made this movie enjoyable. I would even wager that this sequel is better than the original – something I haven’t experienced since “Toy Story 2.” Anxiety being the villain in this movie resonated with me, for reasons I don’t need to get into here. This was a sweet movie that I encourage parents and kids to watch together. It will definitely put a smile on your face.

Pouchy gives it two sticks of dynamite up.

Now playing in theaters. <