Films > DVD Reviews

Inside Out

28/10/15

“Do you ever look at someone and wonder what is going on inside their head?” So begins ‘Inside Out’. It assumes that the answer to its question is “yes!”, and shows us - as Pixar often does - by making things talk that don’t actually talk. Toys, cars, and fish have all been charmingly anthropomorphised for our entertainment by the CGI pioneers, and this time around it’s the emotions of Riley, a hockey-loving 12-year-old girl uprooted from her happy Midwest life and relocated to San Francisco, that are made flesh (well, bobbled fabric, actually). It’s a concept that has allowed the imagineers at Pixar to fully flex their already-bulging creative muscles, and they’ve sculpted Inside Out into a bona fide masterpiece.

Joy, Anger, Fear, Sadness, and Disgust delicately explore Riley’s traumatised psyche with every step of their odyssey and, as with all great cinema, the journey leaves you feeling changed – enlightened, even. As for the guts of the film: every frame is a breath-taking masterclass in the use of colour; the numerous belly-laughs are simultaneously high-minded and slapstick; the “abstract thought” sequence is as clever as anything by Nolan; and I swear if watch that Bing Bong scene again my tear ducts will piss my face off.

The profundity of Inside Out lives in its core message – that sadness is an essential and enriching part of the human experience. But that potentially bleak idea is delivered with such tenderness and, ahem, joy, that it’s difficult not to love learning it, whatever your age.