As the conversation about mental health becomes more acceptable in modern society, the movie industry does not miss an opportunity to make profit out of it. Pixar Animation Studios entered the race in 2015, presenting a family-oriented animated comedy called Inside Out, followed by Inside Out 2 released nine years later. The films bring up topics of complex feelings in a lighthearted, simpler way, making it a perfect watch for both kids and their parents.
Whether it is the growing interest in mental health, or the undeniable success of the first film, Inside Out 2 did not fail to lift the mark. Challenging last year’s “Barbie,” it reached $1 billion at the global box office in only two days longer.
What makes Inside Out 2 so special and desired by the audience is that it is honest about the beauty and struggle of having emotions. In the second movie, we meet the same character, Riley Andersen, now turning 13 and entering the scary land of puberty. Scenes with Riley’s mom trying to carefully introduce her to deodorant and Riley’s inability to talk with her parents with more than several words bring an understanding laughter to the older audience and a response of ‘cringe’ to the viewers of a younger age range.
One of the main plot points of the film is new emotions taking over the ‘control panel’ of Riley’s mind. While depicted correctly and with a gist of humor, not all of them might make sense to the younger audience. One of the new emotions, Ennui, represents, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, “A feeling of being bored and mentally tired caused by having nothing interesting or exciting to do”. In the movie, Ennui does not take much action and has several lines partially in French. The character represents boredom as it is but also does not affect Riley’s actions which is contradictory to how the rest of the emotions work.
Several quotes from Inside Out 2 were blasted on social media in June of 2024. For example, Joy telling Sadness that they always go places together brought tears to many audience members and was a big lesson for kids and adults to learn through an animated movie.
“Of course I’m delusional! Do you know how hard it is to stay positive all the time? When all you folks do is complain, complain, complain?! Jiminy mother-loving toaster strudel!” — Joy
The film ended in a quite predictable happy Disney-style way with family and friends reconnecting after a couple of days of storm. If not for the hard topics and funny moments, the movie is worth watching for its incredible animation. However, you will probably catch Pixar Animation Studios continuing Riley’s story and capturing her emotions through late teenagehood, midlife crisis, or parenting – they have a lot more material to sell.
