D-A-N-G-E-R: that spells "short-cut"!
Jul. 28th, 2015 10:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rich_jackoPixar are mean. They made me cry. Again.
Inside Out is their most inventive film for years. It's also probably the best film about growing up that you'll ever see.
11-year-old Riley always looks on the bright side of life. But then her family moves from rural Minnesota to San Fransisco, and she misses everything she loved about her old life. After a disastrous first day at her new school, she finds trying to "think positive" no longer works, and something inside her gives.
A story about a lonely kid having a mental breakdown isn't the most obvious choice for cartoon entertainment, but Pixar have rarely been conventional. The twist, as you're no doubt aware, is that most of the film plays out inside Riley's head through her anthropomorphic emotions - our hero team of Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust.
The start of the film is exposition-heavy as we get to grips with the concepts of how "headquarters" works, but soon the the team are plunged into an adventure in an ever-changing mental landscape as they struggle to get Riley through each day and her life back on track.
It's bright, colourful, wacky and slapstick, but there's a lot of depth to the film too. Everything works on multiple levels, with the escapades in Riley's mind shaping what she does in "the real world" and vice versa. There's a very clever exploration of how our memories influence us; how some define our personality; how happy memories can become sad ones looking back; and how some memories fade and are forgotten. There are journeys into abstract thought, dreams, imagination and the subconscious. It's an epic story about Family, Friendship and Honesty (not forgetting Hockey and Goofball).
All the way through it tugs at the heartstrings and refuses to let go. Imagine the opening of Up for an entire film. If I was mess by the end, I dread to think what it'll do to those of you who are parents. But don't let that put you off. Indside Out is a wonderful film on every level, the ending is perfect and the end credits sequence which follows is a brilliant (and welcome) slice of comic relief. Highly recommended.
Inside Out is their most inventive film for years. It's also probably the best film about growing up that you'll ever see.
11-year-old Riley always looks on the bright side of life. But then her family moves from rural Minnesota to San Fransisco, and she misses everything she loved about her old life. After a disastrous first day at her new school, she finds trying to "think positive" no longer works, and something inside her gives.
A story about a lonely kid having a mental breakdown isn't the most obvious choice for cartoon entertainment, but Pixar have rarely been conventional. The twist, as you're no doubt aware, is that most of the film plays out inside Riley's head through her anthropomorphic emotions - our hero team of Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust.
The start of the film is exposition-heavy as we get to grips with the concepts of how "headquarters" works, but soon the the team are plunged into an adventure in an ever-changing mental landscape as they struggle to get Riley through each day and her life back on track.
It's bright, colourful, wacky and slapstick, but there's a lot of depth to the film too. Everything works on multiple levels, with the escapades in Riley's mind shaping what she does in "the real world" and vice versa. There's a very clever exploration of how our memories influence us; how some define our personality; how happy memories can become sad ones looking back; and how some memories fade and are forgotten. There are journeys into abstract thought, dreams, imagination and the subconscious. It's an epic story about Family, Friendship and Honesty (not forgetting Hockey and Goofball).
All the way through it tugs at the heartstrings and refuses to let go. Imagine the opening of Up for an entire film. If I was mess by the end, I dread to think what it'll do to those of you who are parents. But don't let that put you off. Indside Out is a wonderful film on every level, the ending is perfect and the end credits sequence which follows is a brilliant (and welcome) slice of comic relief. Highly recommended.
