Filed under: Reviews | Tags: 2015, inside out, pete docter, ronaldo del carmen
Director(s): Pete Docter & Ronaldo Del Carmen
Pixar is no stranger to gutsy family entertainment, with a track record involving narrative risks such as imagining an old curmudgeon as a hero, or through the visual sophistication of an entire first act rendered as a silent comedy film. And yet Inside Out feels like the coup de grace, the first full-bodied adventure that gets even richer at the point where previous outings have settled for routine action sequences involving third act villains. Through the brilliant depiction of its hook (that the five “core” emotions of an 11-year-old girl are personified), this is a film that can successively navigate ideas such as the difference between sadness and depression without leaving an aftertaste of pretentiousness. Director Pete Docter is the most feeling of Pixar’s storytellers, and his very sentimentality is key to the film’s accessibility–even an imaginary friend who momentarily risks becoming the film’s Jar Jar Binks is given a poignant send-off in the film’s most poetic and brutal moment. As a whole, the picture serves as a beautiful resetting of expectations for young audiences, a film with truly honest aspirations. Whereas many children’s films continue to display the idealistic attitude of, “you can do anything”, Inside Out actually feels like a realistic conversation about how to cope and live a healthy, emotionally-balanced life.
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