Pete Docter has done it again.....

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

>>Bing Bong's selfless suicidal sacrifice to save Joy and in turn save Riley isn't something you often see in animated movies.<<

It's been a long time since I last watched it, so I don't remember the exact context, but Gurgi attempted to do something similar in The Black Cauldron. Then again, most people find that film exceptionally dark, more adult oriented, and its ~30 years old, so I would definitely agree that those sort of actions are rare, especially when they're so accessible to children

 

Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan

>>I thought Joy was being awfully mean to Sadness, trying to get her completely out of the way.<<

The story was about Joy learning to understand that Sadness played an important role in making Riley a healthy person. Joy was trying to control everything, which is part of the reason things fell apart.

>>And then Sadness touching every globe, saying she's sorry, and then doing it again, like she had no control over her actions…<<

She didn't. This is the angst of teenage years, and also dealing with change. The memories were touched by sadness because they were now in the past. Riley went from a world where she was popular, had everything secure and stable and comfortable and into a new town, new home, new school. And all at a time when young people are changing and awkward compounded it all.

>>I really couldn't fault Inside Out one iota. It was pretty much perfect for me. YMMV I guess.<<

Me, too. From the opening moments, I connected with it. And I was amazed at how much really complex stuff there is in the movie. One of those movies that is almost simple on the surface, and yet the more you think about it, the deeper it all gets.

Like the Police Academy movies.


; )

 

Originally Posted By ecdc

I support post 82.

It's a brilliant social commentary (the movie, not the post, but that was good too, Kar2oonMan). We all go around telling people to cheer up. We act as if people who are sad are doing something wrong. We wonder what their problem is or, at best, treat sadness as a condition to cure.

We have, in a way, fetishized happiness. It's understandable to a degree because we'd all rather be happy than sad. But sadness means we care about things and are emotionally invested and are disappointed and/or hurt when things don't work out the way we'd hoped. Embracing some degree of sadness is essential for a healthy life. (And seriously, don't we all know that person who is just so happy all the time that's it's creepy and transparently fake?)

It's an incredibly thoughtful movie that manages to shed light on a topic that's impossible to codify or define.

 

Originally Posted By ecdc

Obligatory Historian Post:

It's worth noting too that the way we perceive and understand human emotions are very different than how they were understood in the past. People of course experienced joy and sadness and anger, but expectations of happiness and self-actualization and "achieving your dreams" (which is so tied to happiness) are very modern concepts.

Inside/Out tapped into the spectrum of emotions and how varied they can be and how differently they might be understood.

 

Originally Posted By hopemax

I lost my Mom in April to Cancer. Any scene talking about Sadness turning old memories blue turned me into a blubbering mess.

The movie did get my husband a "shorthand" for when he should just make minor decisions himself...I just stick my foot up in the air. Dealing with everything had my brain totally fried, and there were times when I literally could not make "simple" decisions like what I wanted for lunch.

 

Originally Posted By u k fan

Yeah, it's impossible to watch this movie having lost someone close and not be reminded of them constantly, but in a good way. It's reassuring to know that it's ok to be sad about happy memories. I think this movie could help bereaved kids a lot.

 

Originally Posted By basil fan

Ah, so all the things I didn't like about the movie were intentional. I didn't really doubt it.

That doesn't make them any more entertaining for me...if a character (Sadness) is forced to do what she does with no free will...that's no fun to watch.

But the final message, that sadness is a part of life and every moment can't be just joy, is an important one, I grant you that. And I'm pleased when some problems aren't necessarily wrapped up at the end of a tale (moving to a new city). Sometimes, you just have to live with stuff.

Anyhow, I'm just trying to nail down why I found the movie likeable but not loveable.

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Originally Posted By u k fan

I never understood it that Sadness had no free will, just that she didn't know why she was doing what she did.

Like a typical adolescent the characters were still learning about themselves and what they were capable of doing. That's how I saw it anyway!!!

 

Originally Posted By dagobert

Yesterday we have finally seen Inside Out.

I had high expectations and I'm sorry to say that, but these expectations weren't met. Honestly I was a little bit disappointed in the movie. It wasn't bad at all, but I just expected more and Pixar did better movies in the past. For me the movie was way too simple in the storyline. From the moment the movie started you knew how it's going to end and what's oing to happen.

And when did Pixar start to use such a stupid humor. For example the scene in which Fear wants to get away, then he gets thrown against the window and all the emotion balls hit him in the face. I guess this movie is aimed more towards children than I thought.

I didn't like Joy. It started with the voice (we saw it in English) and her attitude didn't help to like her.

Maybe it was a good thing that I was disappointed, because I had set my expectations for Pixar way too high again. With The Good Dinosaur coming up, I know now not to expect too much. If Inside Out would have been from another studio, it would have been a good one, but it's Pixar and unfortunately the movie didn't reach the level of Ratatouille, Wall-E or Up. Disney's Baymax, one of my all time favourite animated movies, was better. Inside Out was an avarage Pixar movie. Not very good but not bad either.

I got the impression that the movie didn't resonate that much with the ausdiences over here. Maybe there was a reason why Europe got the movie so many months later. I read somewhere that they had to adjust the marketing campaign.

Of course there was also the short movie LAVA, and I didn't like that one either.

 

Originally Posted By CuriousConstance

I loved Lava, but felt pretty much the same way you did about Inside Out.

 

Originally Posted By EighthDwarf

I finally just saw this movie and was blown away by it. I thought the way they broke down the human psyche into memories and how we store them and the role emotion plays in all that was brilliant.

My only complaint was that it made a businessman in a suit cry on a plane while watching a cartoon. ;-)

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

I can definitely see why Joy's voice could be annoying, especially for an audience who isn't particularly with Amy Poehler (and her Leslie Knope character). As much as I like her in other things, Joy really started to grate on me after a while; luckily Phyllis Smith killed it as Sadness, which really helped keep me into it

I'm still not sure how I feel about Lava. I can't decide whether I think it's sappy and wonderful, or cheesy and terrible. It's got a catchy song and a happy ending, but the whole thing was just so...weird!

>>My only complaint was that it made a businessman in a suit cry on a plane while watching a cartoon. ;-)<<

One of my most memorable travel experiences was on a plane full of mostly business travelers (nobody seemed to know the person next to them) and they were showing Marley and Me on the overhead screens. I got up to go to the bathroom toward the end of the movie, and everybody was crying...but trying to hide it from their neighbors (who were, of course, also crying)! : )

 

Originally Posted By EighthDwarf

"I got up to go to the bathroom toward the end of the movie, and everybody was crying...but trying to hide it from their neighbors (who were, of course, also crying)! : )"

LOL!

 

Originally Posted By basil fan

As for the short...I lava it.

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Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA

I'm late to the party - just saw 'Inside Out' and my reaction is certainly lukewarm.

While it's beautiful and conceptually is kind of cool (didn't Cranium Command cover this at EPCOT Center?) and the character design was fun, but it lacked a bit of heart.

My biggest issue? I didn't get a chance to care
about Riley and her parents, so, as is said in literature and script writing 'the stakes aren't high enough.'

That's where I think Pixar missed the boat on this one. Remember that great montage where we see Mr. Fredricksen meet his future wife!? 'Inside Out' needed more of that on the front end.

Not one of my favorites. Cute, but not as great as 'Wall-E' or 'The Incredibles.' Would have made a good, crisp 'Wonderful World of Disney' episode.

 

Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan

>>My biggest issue? I didn't get a chance to care
about Riley and her parents, so, as is said in literature and script writing 'the stakes aren't high enough.'<<

Wow, I felt exactly the opposite. I thought there were powerful emotional keys hit, perhaps in more subtle ways than in other Pixar films, but I loved this movie. And I thought the overall message was an important one, especially in a culture where we tend to think that everyone must be happy happy happy all the time.

Back to you, Siskel. ; )

 

Originally Posted By ecdc

Kar2oonMan for President.

 

Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA

At the end of the movie, were you more moved by Riley's emotional breakthrough? Or the death of Bing Bong?

It just seemed like we needed more time with Riley and her parents in order to care. And all of the time and attention was focused on Joy.

(Oh, to answer the question above. For me, it was neither.)

 

Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA

I'll take 'Secretary of Crabby' in 2oony's Administration.

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

I also didn't particularly care about Riley (or Bing Bong), but I think that the emotion characters were strong enough to carry the movie on their own. In a way, I think they intentionally didn't spend too much time on Riley because they wanted to maintain the universal story that could apply to anybody, rather than one hyper-specific situation

I agree that there was a little too much time with Joy and not enough with Disgust, Fear, and Anger, but it still worked for me. It's not perfect, but I still think it's one of Pixar's best