Inside Out, Review: Animated emotions on a roller-coaster ride

What if our emotions had lives of their own and operated like computer programmes, in their own make-believe world of fantasy and science-fiction? Inside Out personifies the feelings of a young girl and her parents and tries to manipulate their lives from inside their brains, without directly interfering, but subtly planting moods and reactions along the way. It has an interesting concept and some great technical wizardry to go with it. Some reports suggest it is not original, but then it is not common either, rather, innovative and refreshing.

Ancient Indian texts on drama have enumerated Nava Rasas or nine emotions:

Inside Out uses five, out of a probable six, listed by a modern American scientist: Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness. Surprise was the element left out while finalising the story.

A pre-teens girl Riley is uprooted from her Minnesota school life when her father starts a new job in San Francisco. Like all of us, Riley is guided by her emotions – Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith). The emotions live in Headquarters, the control centre inside Riley’s mind, where they help advise her through everyday life. As Riley and her emotions struggle to adjust to a new life in San Francisco, turmoil brews in Headquarters. Although Joy, Riley's main and most important emotion, tries to keep things positive, the emotions conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house, school and her pining for the ice-hockey she so loved to play back in Minnesota.

Direction is shared by two credits, both Pixar veterans: Minnesota-born and University of Minnesota educated Pete Docter/Peter H. Docter (Toy Story-original story, Toy Story 2-original story, Monsters-director, original story, Up- director, original story, screenplay) and Filipino Ronaldo Del Carmen (work includes Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, Monsters University, Up and Dug’s Special Mission-director). They also share the writing credits with four others, including two of the dubbing stars, Amy Poehler and Bill Hader. Painstaking research seems to have gone into the script, and various permutations and combinations were tried before deciding on the final components. For example, in early development, they tried to pair Joy with Fear instead of Sadness, realising that the latter worked better. An entire character, who spoke with a German accent, was edited out of the released version. Memory globes stored computer style and transported on bowling alley type pathways bring out the child in you.

Emotions and sentiments are as old as civilisation itself, while the level of science fiction depicted in the film could only be filmed with 20^th/21^st technology. That in itself is an interesting blend. Visually, the characters are well-conceived, in translucent, odd-shaped, incongruent designs. A plethora of shapes and sizes is on display and the animation is off the beaten track. You know the ‘HQ’ gang are mere brain impulses, yet you cannot help empathising with their roller-coaster ride across a mish-mash of trains, bridges, memory balls and oddball fellow personnel and strange beings, as they embark upon a journey to give Riley a better life. The only angle that gets confusing is the bringing in of similar emotions attached to Riley’s parents. Too many emotions spoil the froth, and the second half, which is otherwise more adventurous, becomes confusing too.

From the large ‘cast’, nine names come to mind on instant recall: Amy Poehler (Wet Hot American Summer, Mean Girls, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny, Blades of Glory, Envy, Shrek the Third, Mr. Woodcock), Phyllis Smith (Sadness emerges an unlikely hero), Bill Hader, Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling, Kaitlyn Dias (Riley), Diane Lane (Mom), Kyle MacLachlan (Dad), Richard Kind (Bing Bong, the cutely named part elephant, part dog, part penguin) and Rashida Jones (Cool Girl’s emotions; daughter of Quincy Jones, TV actress, film work includes The Social Network, Our Idiot Brother and The Muppets-2011). All have ample opportunities to give the 2D characters the extra 3^rd dimension required to shine in this 3D film.

Inside Out, so named to symbolise the view from inside Riley’s brain, looking at her directly, is literally a family film. Firstly, it is about a (skeletal) family. Secondly, you have an extended family of emotions and personalities, linked and inter-twined, directly or indirectly. Thirdly, there is no adult content whatsoever, so entire families can watch it without any feeling of discomfort.

Rating: ***

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HFv47QHWJU