Will Pixar’s new film cause a diplomatic incident? Either way, it’s worth watching – The Irish Times

If Pixar’s Inside Out had a problem, it was the deeply American notion that all life, however chaotic, can be categorized, ordered, and subjected to a system. You could, for example, reduce elements of the human psyche to characters voiced by people like Amy Poehler and Phyllis Smith. It was with this mindset that they went to the moon.

There’s more of that in this great sequel, but Inside Out 2 is also largely about the breakdown of that order. What could shake up the inhabitants of young Riley’s head so much if not puberty? The protagonist of the first film has just turned 13 and is on her way to hockey camp when we meet her. (That’s how they organize their summers.)

Two of her friends are also on the trip, but it turns out that they will be transferring to a different school in the fall. At first she does her best to maintain the relationships. Then a red light flashes on the console in her brain. The new whirlwind of hormones will transform the previously sensible teenager into a reckless Flibbertigibbet.

This biological change comes with the arrival of new personified emotions at headquarters. Maya Hawke plays the prickly Fear. Ayo Edebiri voices the bitter Envy. Paul Walter Hauser is a huge, blushing embarrassment. Best of all (and almost genius) is the casting of Adèle Exarchopoulos as the dark, heavily frayed, turtleneck-clad embodiment of ennui. We’ll see if Pixar causes a diplomatic incident by identifying teenage boredom with an unmistakable caricature of the French personality. More likely, nos amis will just shrug.

As in the first film, there is a deep sadness in Inside Out 2. The new emotions crowd out the old ones – particularly Poehler as Joy and Smith as Sadness – as we watch Riley ingratiate herself with the cool girl and give old pals the cold shoulder. The argument is that the teenage years (and perhaps all of adult life) are ruled by fear, envy, embarrassment and boredom.

There’s worse news. As the old feelings begin a journey from oblivion, Joy comes to a grim conclusion. “Maybe that’s what happens when you grow up,” she says. “You feel less joy.” It’s not giving much away to say we end up in a happier place, but the film never really rejects that argument. There’s at least a tacit acceptance that adult life is a quagmire of swampy discontent.

Before that tidy ending, there’s a far too determined bureaucracy and more than a few compensating jokes. Both “self-awareness” and “belief system” have a physical correlate here: the former a spiky ornament, the latter a series of interconnected circuits. Better (because it’s funnier) is a literal “stream of consciousness” and an equally literal yawning abyss that stands in for sarcasm. “Ah, sar-abyss?” someone says, rolling their eyes. The Pixar team is impressively familiar with self-awareness.

As before, the animators distinguish between the cartoonish inner life and a more photorealistic everyday world. The excited, spirited Riley – a single pimple on her chin symbolizes the challenge of puberty – voiced by Kensington Tallman, proves to be excellent company on her journey towards compromise in the prepubescent world.

No doubt those obsessed with Disney’s supposed kowtowing to “woke” will whine about the inclusion of an obviously Muslim character and a possible hint of the mildest gay coding (teenage freak, dreaded hair dye). Let them be so angry. After a period of some ups and even more downs, Pixar can at least boast about respectfully continuing one of their later classics. Deserves the healthy audience it will surely shake up.

Inside Out 2 hits theaters on Friday, June 14