Less a quick cash grab and more of a natural progression—think of Richard Linklater following up Before Sunrise with Before Sunset—Inside Out 2 catches up with heroine Riley (Kensington Tallman) at 13. Puberty has hit, bringing with it new emotions Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), and Ennui (Adele Exarchopoulos). That makes for a crowded control room for Joy (Amy Poehler) to manage, especially as Anxiety becomes the dominant voice. (Hawke gives a wonderful vocal performance, a panicked patter trying to outrun itself.) The characterizations are visually inventive—Anxiety looks like a Fraggle Rock Fraggle who has stuck its finger in an electric socket—while the psychological playfulness is as smart and funny as anything in the first film. (Sarcasm is a literal chasm; anything shouted across it sounds snarky on the other side.) If Inside Out argued for the value of sadness as part of a healthy mental makeup, Inside Out 2 suggests that one way to keep our anxiety in check is to relieve ourselves of the burden of perfection. Wise and witty, Inside Out 2 continues the Pixar tradition in the ways that matter most.
(6/12/2024)
