My Cultural Diet

The original Inside Out is one of my favorite Pixar movies, a pitch-perfect blend of entertaining visuals, topflight animation, and heartfelt storytelling that adroitly balances tears and laughter. (RIP Bing Bong.) Thus, I was naturally skeptical about Kelsey Mann’s sequel, given the time that had passed since the original film as well as Pixar’s recent issues with middling quality. It was, therefore, a delightful surprise when Inside Out 2 proved to be, well, a delight. The first two-thirds or so are amusing, if a little on-the-nose. Still, as someone with kids who are either on the cusp of or fully entered into puberty, the film’s images and portrayals all tracked for me. But Inside Out 2’s final act is heart-wrenching in the best and truest Pixar fashion, evoking tears and laughter by tackling heavy subjects (e.g., anxiety, the pains of growing up) with grace even as it insisted on the bedrock necessity of finding and experiencing joy in the midst of the chaos and confusion.

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