For every film there are some measurements based on whom one can judge it. According to me, if that measurement is “Script” then the film will be remembered forever. We have some good examples like Steven Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park”, a commercial fantasy and Christopher Nolan’s “Memento”, “Inception” and “Interstellar”. In general, we think that if a film belongs to the genre “Animation” then it has fantasizing stuff which just tries to fascinate us or our children with a good CGI but that’s not true all the time. There are some films of this genre come up with a really good stuff. “Pixar” is a CGI production company which came up with such films with the collaboration of the reputed “Walt Disney Pictures”. Take Monsters. Inc (2001), Ratatouille (2007) and Up (2009), every Pixar’s film had something that touches the hearts. So, two years after their Monsters University, Pixar came up with “Inside Out” with a crazy yet interesting and heart touching plot. Pete Doctor who directed earlier Pixar films like Monsters. Inc, Up directed this film.

Plot :

Inside Out deals with emotions of a little girl Riley like “Joy”, “Sadness”, “Anger”, “Fear” and “Disgust”, residing in her mind and lead her every moment. Joy leads the remaining emotions but one day Joy and Sadness go missing from the Riley’s brain headquarters and lose themselves somewhere in her long term memories. The rest plot is all about how Joy and Sadness strived to come back to Riley’s mind headquarters while Anger, Fear and Disgust keep driving Riley’s mind.

Narration :

Firstly, the “Script” should be praised. The original story writers “Pete Doctor” and “Ronnie Del Carmen” deserve a bow for coming up with this kind of plot. As per my little movie knowledge, this is a very risky plot to narrate yet the screenplay written by “Pete Doctor”, “Meg LeFauve” and “Josh Cooley” is in such a way that there lies no confusion even for a layman. Everything showed and described in Inside Out is clearly understandable. So, these four geniuses should obviously deserve a huge respect for their amazing collective work.

Next thing to be discussed about is “Infrastructure”. As most of the film’s narration happens inside imaginary Riley’s mind, writers had a chance to expand their imaginations (which they did amazingly) yet nothing crossed the reality. The best example for this scenario is “Islands”. Depending on the time and place Riley is in, these islands get activated. The way how they introduced about different emotions, how do they work and how do the memories (include Long Term and Core) get stored in Riley’s mind is highly convincing. Fantasizing Riley’s thoughts with a “Thought Train” is the best fantasy I felt in the entire film.

Next thing to be discussed about is “Style of Narration”. Besides narrating a confusing plot in a simple manner, Inside Out’s narration style can also be related to real life’s philosophy. Everyone wants to be happy all the time, so why it is shown “Joy” mastering everything like taking care of Core Memories and transferring daily memories to Long Term Memories dump and so on. It always controls depressed “Sadness”, tempered “Anger” and scaring “Fear” and “Disgust”. I loved the portrayal of Joy’s efforts to make Riley’s first day of school a memorable one at the new city yet Sadness dominates and makes that memory a long term sad memory.

I watched the entire film with my complete involvement, later when I analysed, I had a doubt how the emotions “Anger” and “Fear” can be “males” for a “girl” Riley while they are shown females for Riley’s mother and males for Riley’s father. I observed it in the below dining scene.

My doubt was clarified by one of the interviews given by Pete Doctor. Pete said, he had the same doubt in his mind for which the writer explained, “As adults, we become more kind of set in our ways. As a kid, you can… anywhere is possible.”

As time passes, we forget some memories of our life. This is beautifully shown with two Dump Management officers. One more such imagination is Riley’s imaginary friend “Bing Bong” who has multiple features like of an elephant, a dolphin and so on. Another imaginations like Jangles are also convincing and funny. At this point, narration gets a slower pace which is highly negligible.

When Joy and Sadness go missing from Riley’s mind headquarters, Anger, Fear and Disgust control Riley’s life. All the “Islands” start collapsing and it becomes tough for Joy to be back. It touched the heart when Joy (writers) employed Sadness to save Riley and her Family relations and get back Joy to the headquarters.

Finally, with its funny and touching narration Inside Out also narrates a lifetime philosophy that every emotion is important in one’s life and one should give equal importance to all of them by filling Riley’s core memories with all the five colours. It also made “Inside Out” a “Must Watch” film.

More Eminences :

1. Voices. Voices given by Amy Poehler (Joy), Phyllis Smith (Sadness), Bill Hader (Fear), Lewis Black (Anger) and Mindy Kaling (Disgust) are the top level without which Inside Out could never be entertaining.
2. CGI. As usual, Pixar mastered the CGI even this time and made the film colourful.

What should be learned from Inside Out?

“Script” is always the heart of a film and a good script never fails.