Inside Out

Change can be a scary thing, especially when that change involves moving away from home to a whole new place. 11 year old Riley knows the feeling all too well - she and her parents moved from her home in Minnesota to San Francisco to start a new life when Riley's dad begins a new job. Deep within the recesses of her brain at the main control center, Riley's core emotions - Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear - try to help her cope with the change. Things seem to go well until Sadness gets ahold of some core memories and makes Riley fall into a pretty deep depression. In an attempt to fix the damage, Joy and Sadness are separated from the others and must navigate their way back into the main control center if they want to help Riley get over her depression and cope with her new surroundings.

The one thing I've always loved about Pixar is their ability to make movies geared towards kids, but have adult messages and content so that parents can enjoy them as well. It's no different with Inside Out. Inside Out goes into some pretty deep stuff with the concept of emotions and dealing with change, but also keeps its child-like spirit at heart with the humor and colorful characters Pixar is known for. Going in, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect - the trailers made it look funny, but also one geared more towards younger kids than kids of all ages. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. However, I found Inside Out to be slightly overrated, to be honest. It was funny, had an engaging story and all that, but to me the emotional depth wasn't anywhere near as strong as other Pixar films such as Toy Story 3, Monster's Inc., or even Up. Some of the sad parts meant to make a tear come to your eye felt forced. I ended up enjoying Inside Out, but I also left the theater wanting something more. I wanted to be more emotionally attached, but I wasn't. That was probably the most disappointing thing to realize.