Seriously The Best Movie I've Seen In A Long While - Tumblr Posts
Alright so I watched Inside Out 2 a couple days ago, and I'm sure other people already have talked about everything possible, but I still feel like I need to rant about my thoughts so I'm gonna do that here.
SPOILERS BELOW, PLEASE SKIP THIS POST IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED THE MOVIE AND DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED
The first thing I wanna talk about is how insanely accurate all the emotions were portrayed. The first movie already showed the emotions in a simple but also incredibly accurate way, so much so that I could understand it as a kid who hadn't even turned ten when the first movie came out. But this movie took that portrayal and turned it up to eleven. I feel like if I were still nine years old and I watched this movie, it would perfectly help me understand the concepts of anxiety, envy, embarrassment and even ennui in a way that I don't think any other movie could.
Being even more specific, the panic attack was an incredibly realistic portrayal too. I've been lucky enough not to have experienced a full-on panic attack myself, but I've heard from people close to me that also watched the movie that it's even their favorite part of the movie for how good it really is. Plus, the way Riley grounds herself, and the way the movie brings attention to it is really amazing to see. First she slows her breathing as the emotions all hug her new sense of self, and then the immediate next thing that she does is focus on the feel of the bench on her hand, the sounds of the hockey game around her, and what she can see, and it works. Admittedly, this part I probably wouldn't have understood as a kid, but I definitely understand it now, and it's beautiful.
This is also a great movie to get across the concept of peer pressure, and how subtle it can be. Val's two friends in the hallway are a great example. The way they talk to Riley about Coach's red notebook puts the idea into her head that the notebook is the most important thing determining whether or not she'll become a Firehawk. This idea gets to her so much that she sneaks into Coach's office at night to find her name in the notebook, something that she likely never would have done had Val's two friends not talked about the notebook that way. Similarly, in the scene where Riley and the Firehawks are hanging out together and talking about bands, one of those same friends asks Riley who her favorite band is, and when she says Get Up and Glow, this friend of Val's pressures Riley into lying and being sarcastic about loving her favorite band, all because she wants to fit in with the Firehawks. Val's friends may not even realize they're pressuring her, but it's still enough to get Riley to try and change everything about herself just to become friends with the Firehawks.
Aside from all of those concepts, though, there were also so many small details and easter eggs that I wanna rant about. I loved how almost all of the memories at the start of the movie were mixed between the core 5 emotions, showing that they worked together so well as a team. I freaked out when I saw Joy's origami Bing Bong on her shelf by her bed. I loved the details about Bloofy breaking the fourth wall not being understandable to anybody else, and how Lance Slashblade moves like a videogame character getting caught on the collision of a map. I loved that the officer's hat in the vault scene had "My Hat" written on it to call back to the two Subconscious guards from the first movie.
I guess my main point is that I believe this movie is just as good as the first Inside Out, and perfectly captures the message it wants to give to people. I had so many concerns that it would be a disappointing sequel, and I was so pleasantly surprised once I actually watched it. You don't have to agree with me, of course; that's only natural for some people not to agree on things. But I do hope that if you took the time to read everything in this monster of a post, that you enjoyed my ramblings, and that maybe it even resonated with you.