Watch Kids' Reviews of
INSIDE OUT

Pixar's New Inside Out is a Brilliant Creative Masterpiece!

Inside Out is one of the most creative movies that I have ever seen. Created and directed by Pete Doctor, Inside Out features the voices of Amy Poehler, Phillis Smith, Bill Hader, Lewis Black and Mindy Kaling. The film was produced by the wonderful animation house, Pixar and is being distributed by Disney.

Inside Out is about the mind of a young girl, Riley and the emotions that rule her day to day existence. The emotions are characters: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust and Fear--and they live in her brain, at headquarters. When Riley and her family move to San Francisco from Minnesota, this presents a huge emotional challenge for Riley. Joy tries to keep Riley thinking positively about her new home, but the other emotions have other ideas and make the transition to San Francisco more complicated.

My favorite part of Inside Out is when Riley and her parents are at the dinner table and all their emotions are battling for center stage. "Anger" in Riley is fighting against "Anger" in the father. Meanwhile, the Mother's emotions are frustrated by the Father and they are remembering some hot Brazilian guy that the Mother knew and wishing she had married him! This sequence is hysterical!

The writing of Inside Out is rich and complex. The script takes the audience and their emotions on a rollercoaster ride as well. At one point I saw my mother and many other people in the audience crying!

The directing of Inside Out is terrific. Like Pete Doctor's previous films, Monster's Inc. and Up, Inside Out is not only entertaining but also reveals something brilliant about what it means to be human. There's a great sense of invention to how the film lays out the mind with different areas like the subconscious, long, short and core memories and train of thought. The animation in these sequences is really surreal.

Inside Out has a wonderful, simple message. We need all our emotions to be an actual human being. It's not enough to just have Joy--you need Sadness to offset the Joy and to be compassionate. You need Fear to help you to make good decisions and to not be too risky. You need Anger to stick up for yourself. And, you need Disgust to make the right fashion choices!!

Inside Out is appropriate for ages 6 to18. It can be appreciated on lots of levels. Kids will enjoy all the slapstick humor and teens will enjoy the sophisticated writing and inside jokes about the brain. I give this film 5 out of 5 stars.

Reviewed by Clayton P., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, age 15

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a masterpiece on our hands. Pixar has done it again. They already lay claim to two of the top 100 movies of all-time with Up and Wall-E and they have now added Inside Out to their mantelpiece. I will gladly go on record by calling this one of the finest animated features to ever be created. Why? Because it's THE most innovative, imaginative and creative film to be made since 2008s Synecdoche, New York.

The beautiful thing about this movie is that both adults and children can enjoy it. As a matter of fact, I'd say that adults may enjoy it more, because they can have a more fundamental understanding of what this film is. It is 100 minutes of analogous brilliance, that changes our idea of what goes on in our heads. Is this idea fathomable or true? No. But the analogy provides the very product film was invented to produce: a stimulation of the imagination.

Children will enjoy the beautiful colors and the basic plot. What the children can understand is what they can relate to: growing up and adjusting to life as they enter puberty. They will laugh at things that SEEM funny or the more, for lack of better word, simple pieces of humor. But the true jokes, the pieces of humor that have the most intellect are the ones children won't understand. I appreciate those the most because they're fathomable. It's the moment when you laugh, not because the joke is ridiculous, but because you can actually imagine that happening.

Amidst the hilarity there is also a certain depth of emotion. There is a tear-jerking moment, yes, but I mean more along the lines of nostalgia. The way the movie portrays the effects of the emotions and the rationalization that go along with them, conjure a desire to reflect on oneself in their pre-teen days. This film may literally get into the mind of a pre-teen, but the metaphorical representation is what seals the reflection. "I was like that?", "Is that how I thought then...I that how I think now?" may be questions you find yourself asking yourself. These are the effects of a brilliant screenplay.

On a final and personal note, I'll tell this short story. There is a scene in the film, where two officers are questioning a cloud in Imagination Land about her dead husband. Then, in the middle of the interrogation the cloud herself is killed as she is run through by our main character. One cop goes, "Hey wait...", but as he says that, the other cop grabs him and says, "Forget it Jake, it's Cloud Town."...get it? It's a parody of the famous final words from the classic 1974 noir, Chinatown. I'll tell you, it wasn't very comfortable being the only person in the theater laughing at that joke.

It's just one joke amongst many. Beyond the hilarity and, mainly due to the aforementioned reasons I explained, I happily give this instant classic 5 out of 5 stars. I recommend it for ages 7 to 18. It can be seen at a local theater near you. Enjoy.

By Willie Jones, KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, age 16

Growing up can be a bumpy road, and it's no exception for Riley, who is uprooted from her Midwest life when her father starts a new job in San Francisco. Like all of us, Riley is guided by her emotions - Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness. The emotions live in Headquarters, the control center inside Riley's mind, where they help advise her through everyday life. As Riley and her emotions struggle to adjust to a new life in San Francisco, turmoil ensues in Headquarters. Although Joy, Riley's main and most important emotion, tries to keep things positive, the emotions conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house and school. Directed by Pete Doctor and Ronaldo del Carmen. Starring Diane Lane, Rashida Jones and Amy Poehler.