The folks at Pixar have given us some great films over the years and their latest takes place in an entirely new locale. It is called "Inside Out." Time Warner Cable News’ Neil Rosen filed the following review.
Riley is an 11-year-old girl and the movie takes place, predominantly, inside her head. What's in there is a control room of sorts called, cleverly enough, headquarters. Five emotions are at the helm: Disgust, Fear, Sadness and Anger. However, the place is really run by Joy.
When Riley's family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco, she has to leave all her friends behind, start over at a new school and face the difficult task of making new friends. Therefore, her happy existence comes crashing down.
Inside her head, this is all played out by different emotions that now hold more sway. Fear, Disgust and Anger are left in charge, while Sadness and Joy get lost somewhere in the deep recesses of Riley's mind.
Consequently, Riley becomes a moody kid as her parents worry what has gotten into her. It is very ingenious and the movie is loaded with lots of highly intelligent ideas. It is such a high concept film that in many ways, I believe it will go over the heads of youngsters. In essence, it's very smart, but maybe too smart for its own good.
As far as adults go, this movie is really targeting that audience. As a grownup, you'll marvel at the numerous, clever, well thought out concepts that the filmmakers have come up with. But even I got lost at one point, story-wise, just like the main characters, when they were trying to make their way back to command central.
The voice work, particularly from Amy Poehler, Lewis Black and Phyllis Smith are first rate. However, the movie is not as funny as director Peter Docter's "Monsters Inc." nor is it as moving as his other film "Up." In addition, the entire concept seems borrowed from a segment in an early Woody Allen film.
Overall, Inside Out is well worth seeing, offering up lots of food for thought.
Neil Rosen’s Big Apple Rating:
Three and a Half Apples