I’ve watched Pixar’s latest, and its jolly good. After much deliberation, I have found reasons and words to illustrate why you should taste this delicious pastry of a film. Here we go.
Pixar Is Back In Form
The biggest joy one feels watching Inside Out is that Pixar is back in form. For the past few years, the animation giant has been blatantly relying on sequels, creating hits out of mechanically doled out franchise films. It was the same studio that fluently transcended the distinction between kids and grownups with thought-provoking, emotionally enriching yet relentlessly fun films like Finding Nemo (2003), Ratatouille (2007), WALL-E (2008), and Up (2009), but slowly declined to the status of market driven banality dished out in Cars 2 (2011) and Monsters University (2013). But Inside Out is an awe-inspiring homecoming for the studio. A film so original, so compelling, and so philosophical, it will make you glow with glee.
Conceptually Inventive and Trippy
Okay, this is the same studio that made a hero out of an old man, a chef out of a rat, a family out of toys, a romance out of robots, and so on. But Inside Out looks like the biggest leap of imagination for the team, with almost the entire action taking place inside the head of a little girl. With every passing frame, and the progression of story, you would look at the person sitting next to you with the expression ‘how did they think of this?’. Not only does the film walk the tightrope of whimsy, it also dances there with an optimus smile.
You Will Know Your Emotions Better
At age 11, Riley moves from Minnesota to San Francisco with her family and the adjustment is mammoth coupled with the slow burn of growing up. We see her personified emotions: Fear, Anger, Disgust, Sadness and Joy controlling her brain, and each have an important role to play as we learn. Instead of getting lost in her head, or just creating an abstract parallel universe, the film checks back on Riley’s real life time and again, balancing the interior and the exterior with great dexterity. This film will help ‘get’ not just your own emotions but also gift you an armour of empathy to understand the world around you a little better.
For The Child and The Adult
Inside Out brims with sparkling animation and zany dialogues to fashion a thrilling adventure which will delight the little ones even if the subtleties escape their tiny minds. The adults will find their eyes moist, and sport secret smiles as they relive the years left behind, go through a sort of revision of the times when imagination mattered so much, joy was so abound, and sadness spoke so easily through a torrent of tears. While we seek joy throughout our life, it is sorrow that makes us recognise our follies, bringing us to terms with life’s gravest choices. You will understand how melancholy creates better poetry.
The Most Complex Story Told Most Simply
The landscape of Riley’s inner world is a complex one but the film makes it very, very accessible. Do you ponder over your long lost memories, cherished moments, phobias, and the imaginary childhood friend who faded into oblivion? Well, Pixar has a train of thought to take you to the wondrous subcontinent where competitive emotions jostle to settle the contrarian aspects of human nature. It’s one of the ingenious visual conquests for the studio where the most absurd idea has been executed with marvellous ease. It deserves a nomination in Best Picture at the Oscars to say the very least.
If you haven’t caught the trailer yet, check it out here-
(The writer is a journalist and a screenwriter who believes in the insanity of words, in print or otherwise. His Twitter handle is: @RanjibMazumder)
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