Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Inside Out

Have you ever wondered what was going on inside someone's head?  Last night I went to the movie Inside Out and I got to see inside Riley's head as she, a normally happy eleven-year-old girl, deals with a move from Minnesota to San Francisco and the loss of her friends.  It is absolutely brilliant!  The story is told from the perspectives of Riley's emotions: Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), and Disgust (Mindy Kaling).  The cast is perfect (I usually find Mindy Kaling to be incredibly annoying but I honestly didn't even know it was her until the end credits) and I especially loved Poehler as Joy and Smith as Sadness and, in particular, their interactions with each other as they battle for control over Riley.  The nerd in me absolutely loved the journey Joy and Sadness take through Riley's abstract thoughts, imagination, and subconscious (I blame all of the educational psychology classes I had to take) and their encounters with some really fun characters along the way, such as Riley's imaginary friend (Richard Kind) and her deepest fear which is a clown.  Isn't everybody afraid of clowns?  Also, it is so clever that there is a cast of actors on a sound stage with scripts who perform in Riley's dreams. As with many Disney animated movies, I think Inside Out is even better for adults than it is for children!  I laughed and laughed through most of it (when I wasn't actually crying).  The message that sometimes you just need to feel sad was very poignant for me because I've certainly learned over the years that it is better to feel sad than feel nothing at all.  The animation is visually appealing (very luminous) but it was definitely the story that drew me in.  I highly recommend that you go see this wonderful movie!

Note:  I think my very favorite part of this movie is that Riley plays hockey!  I'm sure I have a hockey island inside my head, too!

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