Inside Out 2
First screened and reviewed in August 2024
Director: Kelsey Mann. Voice Cast: Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, Kensington Tallman, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Liza Lapira, Tony Hale, Ayo Edebiri, Paul Walter Hauser, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Lilimar, Yvette Nicole Brown, Grace Lu, Sumiyyah Nuriddin-Green, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan, Ron Funches, James Austin Johnson, Yong Yea, June Squibb. Screenplay: Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein (based on a screen story by Kelsey Mann and Meg LeFauve). VOR:④
Deft expansion of Inside Out's initial template, without duplicating it. Inside a comedy, a nimble handling of childhood or adult anxiety.
Less conceptually innovative than the first film, which is probably inevitable. But just as engaging and, laugh-for-laugh, probably funnier? Still something a little creepy and cold about schematizing mental states, memories, and personalities to this rigid degree (and now belief systems, too!), but I was glad the sequel sweated a bit less about the exact topographies of our "personality islands" or whatever. The new characters really came through in look, tone, and plot contribution, even if Envy feels kind of vague and gratuitous. And if we chop her, we could move Edibiri into the role of Anxiety. She's so brilliantly designed, and well-handled in the script; Hawke is perfectly fine at the voice controls, but I think Ayo could have really soared with this character. (Shout out to my friend Paulina, who had the same idea first.) Extra points for Bloofy, the video game character, and the Sar-Chasm.
That's all I got except: pay your returning cast members equally! Or at least comparably. It's an ensemble film about how all emotions have and deserve equal weight. And if you're the actor being paid disproportionately, maybe stand in solidarity with your peers? Easy for me to say from the outside and with no access to information beyond what's been reported. And I do know from an experience of trying to get my raise reassigned to someone I thought deserved it more that big companies don't really let you play like that. Still, while I was mostly Joy in the movie theater, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Embarrassment (aka Team SADE?) all sprang to life when I read up on the back story. Grade:B
