Wednesday Review: Pixar is Brilliant

Just barely in time to NOT be the Thursday Review (local time), here it is:

It is now official: Disney did not ruin Pixar.

Summary: (Concept SPOILERS) Inside Out is the story of 11-year-old Riley. Or rather, the five primary emotions in her head. These emotions are Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust, and their job is to guide Riley through life as smoothly as possible, helping her make memories and develop her personality. The memories are represented by spheres color-coded by whichever emotion they're each associated with. Special memories become "core memories," which form the pillars of Riley's personality, represented by islands branching off from headquarters. At the end of each day, all the normal memories are sent to long-term memory storage. That's what we learn at the beginning of the film. That's the equilibrium, which gets thrown off when Sadness's touch starts turning otherwise joyful memories sad, setting off a chain of events that plunge everything into chaos.


My Review: This film is absolutely brilliant. Go see it NOW.




Seriously, though, if you want an actual review:

Inside Out is quintessential Pixar: Delightfully creative, satisfyingly well-crafted, with a wonderful emotional depth. It's hard to explain how much emotional depth without spoilers, so you're just gonna have to trust me on this one.

One of the best aspects is how Joy grows as a character. It's set up early, but doesn't really come to the fore until the story approaches the inciting incident with Sadness and the core memories. It becomes more and more obvious what's going on there and what needs to happen, but it's no less enjoyable to watch; the characters' actions remain believable in the circumstances through all of that.

It's a pretty sophisticated story about the roles and value of our various emotions and how they reflect us, all wrapped up in a visually beautiful, fun and creative package. Genius.*


Statistics:
Release Date: 2015
Rating: PG
Run Time: 94 Minutes

My Rating: 5-Stars**


*Seriously, you should all go see it. I'm pre-ordering the DVD.
**Easiest 5-star review ever.