Inside Out (2015)

SYNOPSIS

“Do you ever look at someone and wonder, ‘What is going on inside their head?’”

–      Joy

CRITIQUE

Here’s what I wrote about this one in my original theatrical review:

Inside Out (2015)

“Riley Davis (voiced by Kaitlyn Dias) just turned 11. Her loving parents (Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan) have changed her world by up and moving them all from a small Minnesota town to the expansive wilds of San Francisco, CA. She’s left her friends, her junior hockey team and everything else she holds near a dear behind, finding herself in an entirely new place absent of anything recognizably concrete to grasp onto for support.

This is an engaging enough setup for a story in and of itself, and if that were that story Inside Out was interested in I’d probably have been curious to see how the animation wizards at Pixar were going to explore it. Except, for directors Pete Docter and Ronaldo Del Carmen, for their fellow screenwriters Meg LeFauve and Josh Cooley, this isn’t the story they’ve chosen to tell. Or, to be a little more exact, the using of a traditional narrative model to tell it isn’t in any of the filmmakers’ master plans.

Instead, what they’ve chosen to do is look at Riley’s problems and her journey from inside her brain. Literally. Everything is examined from the perspective of her five dominant emotions, Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling) all helping the child figure out what she wants to do and the best course of action to take once she does so. Together, they’re responsible for forming Riley’s personality, setting the child on an evolutionary path for her life helping her transform into the fully-formed person she’ll one day become.

It’s as novel a way to tell a story as anything the Disney-owned animation powerhouse has ever come up with, and alongside Wall•E, Ratatouille and Up is arguably Pixar’s most ambitious effort to date. It’s as cerebral and as esoteric a concept as anything I could have imagined, Docter and company creating this entire world inside the brain full of its own quirks, components, workers and mechanisms that’s innovatively unique yet just as easy to comfortably accept. Everything makes logical sense, all pieces fitting together in melodious harmony, Riley’s brain home to all sorts of mysteries the answers to which will influence whether or not she ultimately accepts the move to San Francisco.

What’s fascinating is just how many levels this ingenious bit of storytelling virtuosity works on. The youngest of minds will be mesmerized by the dazzling colors and the enchanting characters, while more seasoned viewers will be just as deeply engrossed by the complexity of the themes being examined. The inventiveness mixed with the empowering intelligence astounds and captivates, while the deeply personal human story is one every person everywhere can relate to in at least some small fashion or another.

Of the five emotions vying to shepherd Riley towards her goals, Joy is the one all the others bow to. All others, save Sadness. While she’s fine with Joy running the ship that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have interest in what is happening and why to their evolving human host. She looks at memories and events in Riley’s life from a point of view completely different than all of the others, thus her and Joy don’t always see eye-to-eye as to what moments are of true significance and why.

Docter and Del Carmen fashion what they label as ‘Islands of Personality’ to signify Riley’s core emotional growths, things like ‘Family Island,’ ‘Goofball Island’ and ‘Hockey Island’ powering her wants and desires throughout any given day. There are little alcoves for things like ‘Abstract Thought,’ while there’s a whole production house entirely devoted to staging dreams based on whatever it is the 11-year-old has been pondering and obsessing over at any given time. How certain memories remain in the recesses of the brain for eternity is discussed, as are why others appear to be lost to the ravages of time in a Grand Canyon-sized abyss of forgotten dormancy. There’s also reason given why certain songs, ditties and inconsequential bits of melodic nothingness get up into the brain as if stuck on repeat, the answer a brilliantly funny running gag that builds to a glorious laugh-out-loud payoff.

Inside Out (2015)

There is a central plot, mostly revolving around Joy and Sadness alone in the recesses of Riley’s mind but also concerning Fear, Anger and Disgust suddenly forced to help the youngster make her decisions without the input of their two fellow companions, but I find myself reticent to talk too much about any of that. There is something to be said about discovering what Inside Out has to offer without much in the way of foreknowledge. Magnificently scored by Michael Giacchino (Jurassic World), beautifully voiced by its entire cast (including a fabulous Richard Kind as imaginary friend Bing Bong, who deserves some kind – any kind – of award recognition for his genius), the movie is another triumph for the animation powerhouse. In fact, with all their Oscars, with all their recognition, it might just be Pixar’s best film yet. Imagine that?”

Inside Out is a masterpiece. It’s one of the 2015’s best films. It’s one of Pixar’s best films. What else is there that I need to say?

THE VIDEO

Inside Out is presented on a dual-layer 50GB Blu-ray with a MPEG-4 AVC encode and a 1.78:1 1080p transfer.

THE AUDIO

This Blu-ray features an English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 soundtrack as well as an English 2.0 Descriptive Audio track and French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks and comes with optional English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.

Riley’s First Date (2015)

THE EXTRAS

Extras here include:

Audio Commentary with director Pete Docter and co-director Ronnie Del Carmen – Easygoing and fun to listen to, Docter and Del Carmen are in fine form as they make their way through the movie talking about all the various components that helped make it come to life.

Riley’s First Date? (4:40) – Brand new short film that is exactly what the title implies and, no shock, it is wonderful.

Lava (7:12) – A lot of people hate this weird, oddly unsettling music-driven short. While I’m not one of them, I also don’t consider it one of Pixar’s best, not by a long shot.

Paths to Pixar: The Women of Inside Out (11:22) – The female members of the cast and crew wax poetic about the film, what drew them to it, its making and their thoughts on its universality (no matter what the viewer’s gender).

Mixed Emotions (7:17) – A nice look at the character and what it took to bring them all to life.

Story of the Story (Disc Two) (10:30) – More on the development of the story driving the film through its paces various members of the cast and crew adding their input along the way.

Mapping the Mind (Disc Two) (8:24) – Another solid behind-the-scenes piece, this one looking at the world inside the head of our 11-year-old main character.

Our Dads, the Filmmakers (Disc Two) (7:25) – Highly wonderful little featurette looking at the film through the eyes of Elie Docter and Gracie Giacchino.

Into the Unknown: The Sound of Inside Out (Disc Two) (7:09) – Too-brief short looking at the movie’s wonderful sound design.

The Misunderstood Art of Animation Film Editing (Disc Two) (4:43) – Outstanding, but again much too-brief, featurette looking at – wait for it – the editing process as it applies to theatrical animation.

Mind Candy (Disc Two) (14:26) – Massive compilation of character moments featuring Joy, Sadness and all the rest doing what they can to help Riley get through each and every day.

Deleted Scenes (Disc Two)

Theatrical Trailer Gallery (Disc Two)

A code for a Digital HD Copy of the film along with a DVD version are included with this release.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I’m in love with Pixar’s Inside Out. I’m not yet calling it the studio’s best film but it certainly belongs in the conversation. Disney’s Blu-ray release is superb and thusly comes highly recommended.