Inside Out - Kid's Korner Review - Feeling every emotion of the film - 4.25 stars (Bonus - Caroline's review & her top Pixar favourites)
Popcorn, M&Ms and a large drink. Roll the film... Pixar has not come out with an original film for quite some time. Brave was more of a Disney princess film, while Inside Out looks to introduce us to a fresh new world. How will it stand up to their catalogue of brilliant films?
Kid's Korner rating: 4.25 stars
Parent's Rating: 4.25 stars
It is not easy to understand the emotions of children, but what if you were able to see their emotions being played out on the big screen? Directors Pete Docter (UP) and Ronaldo Del Carmen’s new film Inside Out allows us to see into the turbulent, but humorous world of the pre-teen emotional landscape. Riley the focus of this emotional tale and she is going through a multitude of changes in her life. Things get even more challenging when her family moves from the Minnesota to San Francisco. As she is growing older, these new situations reek havoc on the emotional battlefield of Riley and her family. Over the initial days of their arrival to their new home and school, her emotions, Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith), who live in Riley’s ‘Headquarters’, try to navigate her through the emotional mine field of the past and present. Then an emotional catastrophe leads to the mixing of her emotions, her memories and her responses to life which have the potential to lead to significant, life changing results.
In raising three daughters who have experienced similar stages of life as Riley, this flurry of emotions came alive on screen in a hilarious, but personal way. The story felt simplistic and child-like, which made sense because these are the emotions of a pre-teenager. They are not mature characters, but the ‘emotions’ are growing at the same rate as the child they exist within. This is explained in finer detail by seeing the emotional landscape of Riley’s parents. They contain similar characters, but with they exist with a depth that has not occurred yet in Riley’s life. Inside Out is such a different experience than most animated films and it is handled with a similarly mature fashion as UP. This style of storytelling causes a shift in understanding of what it was trying convey, which ultimately was the maturing of a young girl into adulthood. Which would suggest that anyone should not go into this film expecting a typical Disney film. Without sounding too obvious, this film will play on your emotions and may cause you to consider all you have forgotten, the many things that have influenced your life and how joyful emotions are maybe even sweeter when mixed with a bit of sadness. Our family really enjoyed this film, but had to take the time to consider what it all meant to us and what it will mean for our youngest child in the future.
The writing and directing of the lead characters of the film bring in the needed qualities of the Pixar films we have come to love over the years. It is funny and well written which caused laugh out loud moments, potential times of fear and a multitude of tears throughout the theatre. In the same vein as UP, the themes were meant for the tween to adult audience, but it still can be enjoyed by younger children. The younger set may need some explanations of the deeper emotional elements on screen. Inside Out falls squarely in the middle of the pack of the Pixar quality productions, not the best film, but still an excellent film that delivers a joyful experience for the family.
Dad asked the question on the ride home, 'What did I think of the film?' I felt all of those emotions while watching this movie. I really liked the film even more after we talked about it afterwards. It was funny and I really like the Bing Bong (Richard Kind) character. He was funny and sad at the same time. Talking with Dad, I thought Inside Out was really good.
Caroline’s Top Pixar films:
(Contributing writer - Caroline Matthews - age 9)
Reel Dialogue: What are the bigger questions to consider from this film?
1. Why is it hard to control our emotions? (Proverbs 16:32, 1 Corinthians 10:13)
2. What does the Bible say about maturity? (1 Corinthians 14:20, Ephsians 4:14-15)
What is Kid's Korner? Click on the link and see.
What is Kid's Korner? Click on the link and see.
Kid's Korner are reviews written by Russell Matthews' with his kid's perspective and based on a five star rating system @ Russelling Reviews #russellingreviews #insideout
Great review.
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