“Sadness, do you copy?!”
Nothing focuses the attention quite like having to sit around all day waiting for a parcel delivery. To be fair, I would have been sat around all day anyway, but I’d be coming at it from a totally different headspace. The item due to arrive is just a neck pillow, something I only found out existed when I first saw Amy Poehler wearing one in an episode of Parks and Recreation.
Speaking of Amy Poehler…
I picked the above bland header quote because, while a solid sequel to the 2015 original, nothing quite as memorable or heart-wrenching happens, or is said, during this one. At the very least, we get a seemingly-endless series of pale imitations of previous events. Almost like a Toy Story sequel.
Whereas Inside Out 1 featured an interesting set of relatable events in the real world: our human protagonist moving home and having to cope with settling into a new life, 2 lazily settles on a stock television episode plot about a teenager going off to summer camp. Yes, I know it’s technically “hockey camp”, but the difference is negligible. Not having a summer camp culture here in the UK, we can only watch in horror at a social concept of such mind-bending awfulness. Find me a positive summer camp story and I will show you a slave in the Servile Wars who was just happy to get some fresh air as he was nailed to a crucifix along the Appian Way.
Too soon?
So, yes, we’ve seen the events of Inside Out 2 play out a thousand times before, a fact that isn’t helped by the required-retread of the themes of the first film. Most notably, our fantasy heroes are once again locked out of Riley’s brain control room (did I just type that?!) and have to go on an adventure through her mind to put wrongs to right. Only this time, the exploratory scenes are nowhere near as interesting, creative, touching, or funny.
And there’s no Bing Bong.
No Bing Bong means no Richard Kind.
Fuck this movie.
The film’s central premise: that your emotions get oh-so-slightly more complex as you crossover into adolescence, means we get a new set of control room characters that are merely a flip-side of the same coin. Anxiety is linked to Fear. Ennui to Sadness. Embarrassment to Anger. Envy to Disgust. And so forth. Well, not “forth” actually, as that’s pretty much it. Still, while a potentially-interesting concept, it didn’t provide enough drama to keep me invested a second time around.
You see, one of the most frustrating things about being a teenager is that you’re constantly being told by the adults around you to start taking control of your own life and act like an adult, yet you are still not actually given all the rights and powers you need to do so. Consider HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey, a computer tasked with dangerously conflicting orders: it must be honest with the crew of Discovery One, but it must also keep a great secret from them. HAL’s eventual solution? KILL THEM ALL!
Cut to debates over gun control in the United States.
As someone who has suffered from severe anxiety their entire life, I do appreciate the notion of Anxiety as a character constantly trying to second-guess what’s about to happen to her young ward. I understand how that feels. Often I’ll get myself extremely worked-up about an event that hasn’t even happened yet. Or may never happen. It’s going on right now, actually. I’m currently too anxious to take my recycling down to the wheelie bins, lest a nosy neighbour confront me about not putting the right items in the right bins. Therefore, my kitchen is now full of bags containing (washed, don’t worry) plastic and tins. My anxiety is groundless, however, as not a single, solitary soul on this estate gives a crap about such things, but that doesn’t stop it controlling my life.
Thus, while Inside Out 2’s attempts at delving deeper into the ideas planted in 1, preteen Riley and tween Riley just aren’t all that different, essentially worrying about the same issues. So, you know, what’s the point?! I guess you could ask that of every single sequel ever made in the history of human culture.
I genuinely believe something more unique happening to Riley outside of her head would have elevated this film significantly, as it’s hard to root for a sportsperson’s petty ambitions. Like a soldier who realises, upon retirement, that they’ve just spent years as a meaningless pawn in their government’s game to protect business interests abroad, as does a sportsperson surely realise, upon their retirement, that they’ve just spent years fighting over a ball to impress a bunch of screaming dimwits. Or, in the case of Inside Out 2, a puck. It must be a truly thankless task, a fact the retiree must only become aware of once they are patted on the back and told: “Thanks, sucker, you succeeded in making everyone but you lots of money! Sorry about the crippling injuries you’ve sustained as a result. Here’s a moulded piece of metal as compensation. Now get lost, your young replacement is here!”. I remember how dejected my father was when the Royal Air Force didn’t throw him a parade with hookers and blackjack when he retired. Forty years of life without the right to free citizenship, all for a sad little cake bought by his civilian coworkers.
Sucker.
Golly, that was a weird rant, wasn’t it?! Anyway, onwards!
I don’t have a solution to Inside Out 2’s by-numbers story problem. At least, not right now as I sit here typing. But I’m sure that, should I go off into another room with a notepad for half an hour, I would return with about twenty better ideas. Well, certainly better than, sigh, yet another summer camp melodrama.
Right, things I did like about Inside Out 2…
- Tony “Buster Bluth” Hale makes a fine replacement for Bill Hader, an actor apparently either too busy or too proud to accept $100,000 to stand in a vocal recording booth for two days. Nice work if you can get it, huh?!
- The pretentious video game character made me laugh, as he’s a perfect example of why my eyes glaze over during RPG cutscenes.
- Anxiety’s final borderline-catatonic breakdown is truly disturbing. In a daring way.
- Even though it’s not dealt with in the most gripping of ways, just the fact that a mainstream movie for all ages exists that deals with mental health issues is another grand step in the right direction.
- And, last but not least, the film isn’t terrible.
Minor SPOILER ALERT for just the following paragraph!
I was disappointed that Dark Secret didn’t turn out to be Riley’s budding interest in girls, as I felt there were a few hints at it early on in the film. Oh well, I suppose Disney still needs to sell this junk to countries with institutionalised bigotry.
Go capitalism!
I’m gonna go ahead and predict that 3 will involve Joy and crew managing to escape Riley’s mind and walk about in the real world somehow. I mean, where else do you go with this?! Place your bets now, folks! Perhaps I’ll be true to my threat and write some fan fiction. Anyway, whatever the official writers come up with next, I’ll support their good intentions, regardless of how mediocre the final product is.
But there better be Richard Kind in it.
No Richard Kind = No Jim.
Oh and my neck pillow arrived halfway through writing this review, so I can finally go for my bath and let the stink out.
Do stay in touch, darlings.
Toodles!
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