Inside Out 2

• Directed by Kelsey Mann
• June 10, 2024 (El Capitan Theatre) / June 14, 2024 (US)

Voice Cast

• Joy-Amy Poehler
• Anxiety-Maya Hawke
• Riley Andersen-Kensington Tallman
• Disgust-Liza Lapira
• Fear-Tony Hale
• Anger-Lewis Black
• Sadness-Phyllis Smith
• Envy-Ayo Edebiri
• Ennui-Adèle Exarchopoulos
• Embarrassment-Paul Walter Hauser
• Valentina “Val” Ortiz-Lilimar
• Grace Hsieh-Grace Lu
• Breonna “Bree” Young-Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green
• Jill Andersen-Diane Lane
• Bill Andersen-Kyle MacLachlan
• Coach Roberts-Yvette Nicole Brown
• Bloofy-Ron Funches
• Pouchy-James Austin Johnson
• Lance Slashblade-Yong Yea
• Deep Dark Secret-Steve Purcell
• Jill’s Anger-Paula Pell
• Bill’s Anger-Pete Docter
• Mind Cop Frank-Dave Goelz
• Mind Cop Dave-Frank Oz
• Fritz-John Ratzenberger
• Jake-Flea
• Forgetter Bobby-Bobby Moynihan
• Forgetter Paula-Paula Poundstone
• Nostalgia-June Squibb

Riley’s original emotions are unexpectedly joined by new emotions seeking to take control of her mind. That sounds darker than it is.

The idea behind Inside Out 2 is that Riley is facing yet more significant changes at the age of 13. The care and creativity that they show the internal chaos is intriguing and is continued from the original. It tenderly yet uniquely demonstrates the storm that she is going through in an understandable and entertaining way. Going with the theme of growing up and changing, the film introduces new emotions Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui.

What Riley goes through are things we can at least understand if not have experienced/done ourselves. We all reach an age where we still like certain things even if we may feel like we are too old for them. Viewers see a pair of childhood characters who are riffs on Dora the Explorer and even her character crush of Lance Slashblade. Bloofy perfectly captured the Dora the Explorer animation while Lance Slashblade looked like a PS4 video game anime cutie. I know of a few contemporary with anime or game crushes while in my youth still enjoying some kid stuff though I had aged out of the demographic.

This all takes place around an ice hockey training camp. Riley and her two friends Grace and Bree have been picked by the coach of coaches to see if they’re ready to join the elite ice hockey team, the Fire Hawks. It’s a big deal to them but at the same time there are massive changes coming. Riley and her friends will not be going to the same school next year.

Isn’t this kind of what happened last movie now that I think about it? In Inside Out she was separated from her previous friends by her moving from Minnesota to San Francisco for her daddy’s new job. Here it is separation from friends because of new school assignments.

The story is about Riley coming to terms with the personal changes in herself, and getting on a good path while solving her personal issues in some fashion. It’s the world of the character and not the entire world. This is one big moment of growth and maybe in that way it is a high stakes story for her. She needs to learn to control her emotions and have a strong sense of self while also deciding should she immediately slough off her old friends and try to make new superficial new ones? There is a popular player at the camp and being her friend would immediately put Riley in with the cool kids.

There’s plenty of good humor in this. With new things happening in Riley, it opens up the floor up for good jokes such as the sar-chasm the emotions encounter when they are travelling the recesses of Riley’s mind. Perhaps one of the best puns I’ve seen in a movie in a very long time. Then there are all of Riley’s emotions being literally bottled up. 

I’m not sure if it’s character moments that are missing but it seems a little limited in what it does with the cast. Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui are just kind of tossed in. Nostalgia is a(n understandable) gag.  Conversely the movie does well illustrating visually the full psychology of Riley and when necessary equating it to other characters.

This thoughtfully handles kids trying to make new friends or poorly handling social situations. Riley hurts those closest to her as she attempts to ingratiate herself with new people because she has lost her sense of self because Anxiety has tossed it prompting the original emotions to go looking for it.

The big question of the movie is will Riley and/or her friends get on the team? That’s the whole point of what they’re doing and some of Riley’s actions. They don’t answer that truly. It’s a left a little hanging. If they had that would’ve made that more of the point of the story than Riley learning how to maintain her new emotions and her friendships.

Inside Out 2 had some weaknesses, but was an enjoyable movie. A bit of a rehash of the first, but not entirely derivative or recycled.