Review of Inside Out (2015) by Aaron B — 09 May 2018

Inside Out is a fantasy-drama movie that was released in 2015. This movie talks about an adventurous 11-year old girl, Riley, who goes through a variety of emotions after she moves from Minnesota to San Francisco. Riley's 5 main feelings joy,sadness, fear, disgust, and anger become impaired after joy tries to protect Riley's core memories from sadness, to prevent them from being ruined. As a result, sadness and joy accidentally vanish in a hidden part of her mind, altering Riley's thoughts and actions as time progresses. From a dinner-table argument with Mom and Dad, to a rough day at school, to a disappointing hockey tryout, Riley starts presenting a different personality.

Inside out was a successful movie, thanks to the filmmakers behind the scenes as they clearly present the plot elements. For example the climax or the turning point, when anger gives Riley the idea of running away to Minnesota after an exhausting day. As her chemical imbalance affects her actions, goofball, honesty, friendship, and family island start to fall into the forgotten part of her brain.

Pete Docter, an American filmmaker who wrote Inside Out, was nominated for 8 oscars (2 wins), for his amazing talent with a background of film director, animator, screenwriter, producer and voice actor from Bloomington, Minnesota. Some creative elements that gave the audience a more realistic image of what Riley's thoughts and emotions were, are the colors and sound effects. For example when she used to live in Minnesota, the colors were bright and the music was joyful. In contrast, when she moved to San Francisco, the colors were dull, most of the time it was raining, and the sound effects were depressing. The camera movements also helped the audience picture everything from Riley's point of view. For example her first day of school, when the teacher made her introduce herself the audience could also feel all the stares of her new classmates.

Subsequently, the actions portrayed by Riley's emotions were successful by expressing exactly what they were. For example, fear was always scared, joy was always happy, sadness was always sad etc. The audience could easily differentiate Riley's feelings by just listening to the tone of every single one of them.

Inside Out is a very detailed fantasy-drama movie that clearly shows how the absence of one or more feelings can alter one's ability to think. Riley was the visual representation of the effects, as she was presenting a variety of emotions at the same time.