What a delightfully charming movie! Inside Out explores how our emotions help guide—and misguide—us as they take the controls inside of eleven-year-old Riley’s mind while she navigates growing out of childhood to an age and time when emotions become more layered, more affected, and more unpredictably complex. Her tale is built around her difficulties of moving to a new town, leaving behind her friends, her hockey team, and her home. This provides the platform for us to get to know Riley as her emotions handle this change in her life.
The five emotions starring in Inside Out—Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust—are in charge at “Headquarters,” and they watch over and craft responses and reactions to daily living and as memories are also formed, stored, and cherished. The movie cleverly depicts what happens inside our minds as we interact with the world and each other, but the gem is in the film’s explanation of memory—long term memory, memory dump, ear worms, but most especially, how our emotions we held when the memory is made as well as how the emotions held when the memory is accessed influence the manner in which we recall those memories.
Yes, this is an animated film. And based on interviews I’ve heard and conversations I’ve had with those who’ve seen the film with youngsters, it works well for children. And it works magically too for adults. I laughed, I cried (more than once; of course I did), and I genuinely delighted in this tale.
A dear friend strongly recommended this movie; I’m so thankful that she did. This is indeed a must-see.