Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post: Inside Out 2

Hello and welcome to debut of Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post.

This where I (Dave-El) will write about a Movie I have seen and Post about it on my blog over the Weekend (usually Saturday, sometimes Sunday or even both.)

As you can see, the I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You marketing department worked really hard on this.   

What better way to launch a new series of posts about my love of movies than with a post about a new movie. 

The first edition of Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post is about Inside Out 2, a sequel to Inside Out (2015). For my post about the first film, click here. 

Riley Andersen is 13, and about to enter high school. Her personified emotions—Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust—have since created a new section of Riley's mind called "Sense of Self", which houses memories and feelings that form Riley's beliefs. 

The primary belief of Riley's Sense of Self? "I'm a good person."

Joy, intending to fill the Sense of Self with only positive memories, has also invented a mechanism that launches any negative memories to the back of Riley's mind. 

Riley and her best friends Bree and Grace are invited to a weekend ice hockey camp where Riley hopes to qualify for her school's team, the Firehawks. 

Everything is going great! 

Absolutely fine!  

Then the Puberty Alarm goes off.  

Yep, everything is just... fine.

Except...

Riley is over reacting to even the most modest actions taken by Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust. And there are the new emotions:  Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui.

There is conflict: 

Joy thinks Riley should focus on having fun at the camp.

Anxiety wants Riley to win a spot on the team because otherwise her future is doomed to failure! 

In a match up of Joy vs. Anxiety, Anxiety wins! 

Anxiety get busy as she...

• dumps Riley's Sense of Self into the back of Riley's mind
•  throws the old emotions into a memory vault.
• uses negative memories to create a new, corrupted Sense of Self.

Anxiety's manipulations leads Riley to blow off her friends Bree and Grace in order to ingratiate herself with high school hockey champ Val Ortiz so Riley will not be forced to eat alone in the high school cafeteria and not make the Firehawks team.  

Joy and the original emotions are on a quest to recover Riley's original Sense of Self from it's exile. It's primary belief of "I'm a good person" grows weaker, fainter.

Meanwhile, what is the primary belief of Riley's new Sense of Self created by Anxiety? "I am not good enough."

During the final scrimmage game of the ice hockey camp, Riley who is now burdened by self doubt caused by Anxiety's Sense of Self is a monster on the ice.  Riley's hogging the puck and missing her shots. And she hurts Grace which gets Riley sent to the penalty box. 

This results in Anxiety swarming the control board in a panic which causes an overwhelmed Riley to experience a panic attack.

The old emotions returns and Joy restores the old Sense of Self but the damage is done. Riley is still caught up in her panic attack. 

Anxiety cannot determine who Riley is or will be. And Joy realizes neither can she.  Joy removes the first Sense of Self again which allows a new, complex, and varying Sense to form from Riley's positive and negative memories. 

Riley regains control and reconciles with Bree and Grace. And with Joy taking control, Riley smiles as she finishes the game. 

The film ends with Riley in high school, she's friends with Val and the Firehawks team and she still friends with Bree and Grace. There is some uncertainty if Riley made the team but she feels good in that she knows she tried her best and there is always next year.   

OK, I will admit this movie did a number on me. I remember when I was younger and anxiety took control and quite frankly never let go. I never experienced the catharsis that Riley has with Joy and Anxiety working in tandem.  

The moment in the ice hockey camp scrimmage that has been built by Anxiety into this make or break moment for Riley's future, the horrible realization that Anxiety has destroyed all that was good that got Riley to this camp in the first place, it is a terrible and heartbreaking moment.  

Basically, Inside Out 2 is a visual representation of the struggles anyone who has battled with their mental health will recognize.  Not all of us got that catharsis when we were young.  

Pixar is back to their best form, taking a concept that is not easy to describe and turning it into a movie that is funny and sad and even thought provoking about this crazy thing called life. 

Inside Out2 made headlines by actually being a major box office success.  It had the third-biggest domestic opening weekend for an animated film and is the highest-grossing film of 2024 to date. 

I wouldn't be surprised to see this movie way past $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales by the time this posts. 

When Andrea and I went to see Inside Out 2 the weekend after it's debut, I think it was the most people I've shared a theater with since Barbie last summer.   

Inside Out 2 represents Pixar back to it's classic form.  

If only it didn't make me think and feel so much.

My brain still hurts.

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What's coming up next for this crazy new thing called Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post?   

• Saving Private Ryan 
• Crazy Rich Asians  
• The Muppets Take Mahattan 
• Pee Wee's Big Adventure 

And yes, there will be posts about classic films from the Golden Age of Hollywood. 

Until next time, remember to be good to one another and I'm always down to see a movie.