100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 89: Inside Out

Director: Pete Docter, Ronaldo Del Carmen

Genre: Animation/ Comedy/ Family/ Drama/ Fantasy

Runtime: 95 minutes

Year: 2015

Starring: Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Richard Kind, Bill Hader, Mindy Kaling, Lewis Black, Kaitlyn Dias, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan, John Ratzenberger, Frank Oz, Bobby Moynihan

Description: After young Riley is uprooted from her Midwest life and moved to San Francisco, her emotions - Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness - conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house, and school.

Review: Ideas for an original film are often easier than you might think. The creative minds of Pixar used director Pete Docter’s childhood experiences for “Inside Out”. When he was a kid, his family moved to Denmark for work. Pete’s sister had no trouble adapting to the situation, but Pete himself didn’t feel at home right away. Years later Pete saw the same with his daughter, who was on the edge of puberty at the time. The idea for “Inside Out” was born and he started to fantasize about what went on in the human mind and how certain emotions happen.

Like in “Up”, Docter manages to grab the audience from the first moment, with emotion. We see a baby being born and we see her first emotions: Joy and Sadness. The girl is Riley and we see her grow up in Minnesota. Together with Joy and Sadness, there is also Fear, Disgust and Anger. They rule Riley’s emotions. When Riley is eleven, her family moves to San Fransisco. A new city, a new house, a new school; Riley and her emotions have a lot they struggle with.

Rats that can cook, roots falling in love, toys coming to life; where does ixar get all those original ideas? “Inside Out” fits this perfectly. The coming of age story has been done so many times before, but never this original.

“Inside Out” has a lot of funny moments, but also manages to touch us. Not only with the opening scene. In fact, you will feel every emotion while watching the film. As always, the movie looks fantastic. It takes you on an emotional rollercoaster.

Pixar did it again. It made an animation that doesn’t only entertain you, but also manages to touch you and it will stay in your memory. Great piece of cinema for the whole family.

Rating: 4,5/ 5