Jennifer's Blog

My niece and I celebrated my birthday by watching the newest animation "Inside Out" - it was amazing! I don't know how the Pixar creative team comes up with these ideas. It was a beautifully crafted and fun-tastic imaginative world, even I felt like a kid again. I highly recommend it.

Inside Out is a truly unique film, since we follow the lives of the "inner voices" when a baby is born. We are introduced to Joy who is the leader and loves creating joyful memories. Her job is to essentially collect as many happy memories as possible. We see everything from their point of view, watching what goes on outside and reacting to everyday situations, trying to decide which emotion is the best solution. Over the years, the team grows, adding on Fear, Anger, Sadness and Disgust. They have very distinct personalities and as an audience, we grow to appreciate and love them as they become a team. When Riley's family moves to San Francisco, everything drastically changes which creates havoc with her inner voices. When Joy and Sadness are suddenly taken out of the headquarters, the rest of the team is left to figure out how to work together before Riley's personality is forever changed.



Stuck in the maze of core memories, Joy and Sadness try to get back to headquarters, going from one island to another, through imagination land and jumping on to the Train of Thought.  There are several Islands of Personality: Family Island, Friendship Island, Hockey Island and Goofball Island and when Riley feels betrayed, each of those islands turn grey and fall down into the memory dump, forever gone. It's quite a ride through the turmoil of emotions and aspects of Riley's personality, resembling a crazy and colourful carnival. This world reminds us how precious memories are and how much of an impact they have on creating our personalities. I was simply awestruck at the scope of this magnitude of creating the world of the inner mind.




The only thing I didn't like was the short film "Lava" - I truly hated it. I did not the appreciate the idea that someone has to find love to be happy. It was one of the worst shorts Pixar has ever done. (Trailer preview for Lava: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=11&v=EqZVHEDLeaM)

This trailer does a pretty good summing it up for Inside Out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seMwpP0yeu4

Synopsis:

Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) is a happy, hockey-loving 11-year-old Midwestern girl, but her world turns upside-down when she and her parents move to San Francisco. Riley's emotions -- led by Joy (Amy Poehler) -- try to guide her through this difficult, life-changing event. However, the stress of the move brings Sadness (Phyllis Smith) to the forefront. When Joy and Sadness are inadvertently swept into the far reaches of Riley's mind, the only emotions left in Headquarters are Anger, Fear and Disgust.