Inside Out (*****)

To say that “Inside Out” is one of Pixar’s great films is a bold statement for anyone to make. This is the studio that produced “Wall-E,” “Finding Nemo,” and “Ratatouille,” after all. After 15 films and countless ups and downs, to see Pixar release a film of this caliber and skill is a credit to their creativity as a whole, and is nearly enough to pardon them for other films like “Cars 2.”

What surprised me most about this film was my lack of enthusiasm to see it in the first place. After a string of lukewarm successes, I can admit my passion for the release of these films had dwindled. Did anyone really love “Brave,” after all? The trailer presented it as a gimmicky movie with poorly-rendered cartoons living inside of people’s brains, running them like robots and providing little insight into the actual workings of human emotions. Wow, was I wrong.

The film is the story of a girl named Riley, born in Minnesota and a single child to two loving parents. With a new job opportunity for dad, the family uproots and moves to San Francisco, where the changes between a new school no friends gives Riley a catalyst to distance herself more and more from her family and creates a tension that drives the plot. It’s not much of a plot to tell you the truth, but the realism of this family is one that grounds the film for the fantastical elements just on the other side of frame.

We also follow Joy, quite literally “joy” inside the mind of Riley. She is not an imaginary friend, per se, nor is she a divine being that takes away all sense of free will. She is just one of many emotional personas living inside Riley’s mind, along with characters like “Sadness,” “Anger,” and “Disgust.” Yes, they use a panel to push buttons and activate a variety of responses from Riley, but there is so much more creativity behind their workings that a review of this length wouldn’t even begin to cover it.

We learn in a very thorough intro how these beings interact and how our memories are formed, how each night we transfer these “orbs” of physical memories into our long-term memory banks, and how we all have a handful of important memories from life that literally drive our personality as we know it. For Riley, the drama comes when she cries on her first day of school. For Joy, it’s the realization that there are only so many happy memories to block out the pain.

Saving as much of the plot as possible, the journey Joy and Sadness take together is one that is full of wonder and surprise. The actions of the other emotions while these two crucial characters are absent create a rift in Riley that is at times comical and heartbreaking, and the film concludes on such a mature, overwhelmingly-emotional note that it’s nearly impossible to view this film without the need for self-reflection after the credits role. As one would expect with Pixar, tissues are advised.

My one dislike of this film (and truly my only dislike) was the design of the emotions themselves. Joy looks like a knockoff Tinker Bell, and the others seem like they would fit in better in a film with a more childish storyline. How they should have looked? It beats me. All I can tell you is that “Inside Out” is one of the most magical movies I have seen in a while, one that I am eager to see again, and one that is a return to form for Pixar in the most exciting way possible.

**On a side note, arrive early to the theater in order to view the Pixar short called “Lava,” one of their absolute best shorts I can remember and some of the most beautiful animation and music I have ever seen and heard. Prepare to be wowed.

(Awards potential: Best Animated Feature, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Original Song ('Lava' - from the short film))