“Inside Out” is smartly written, features amazing visuals and once again, it’s another beautifully crafted Disney Pixar film that I highly recommended!
Images courtesy of © Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Inside Out
YEAR OF FILM: 2015
DURATION: 95 Minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (1:78:1), English 7.1 DTS-HD MA and 2.0 Descriptive Audio, , French & Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Subtitles: English SDH, French & Spanish Subtitles
COMPANY: Pixar/Disney
RATED: TV G (General Audiences)
RELEASE DATE: November 3, 2015
Directed by Pete Docter/Ronnie Del Carmen
Written by Pete Docter, Ronnie Del Carmen
Screenplay by Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley
Additional Story Material: Michael Arndt, Simon rich
Additional Dialogue: Bob Peterson, Bill Hader, Amy Poehler
Produced by Galyn Susman
Music by Michael Giacchino
Cinematography by Robert Anderson, Erik Smitt
Edited by David Suther
Casting by Natalie Lyon, Kevin Reher
Production Design by Anthony Christov
Art Direction by Belinda van Valkenburg
Featuring the Voices of:
Amy Poehler as Joy
Phyllis Smith as Sadness
Richard Kind as Bing Bong
Bill Hader as Fear
Lewis Black as Anger
Mindy Kaling as Disgust
Kaitlyn Dias as Riley
Diane Lane as Mom
Kyle MacLachlan as Dad
Paula Poundstone as Forgetter Paula
Bobby Moynihan as Forgetter Bobby
Paula Pell as Dream Director
David Goelz as Subconcious Guard Frank
Frank Oz as Subconscious Guard Dave
Flea as Mind Worker Cop Jake
John Ratzenberger as Fritz
Rashida Jones as Cool Girl’s Eotions
When 11-year-old Riley moves to a new city, her Emotions team up to help her through the transition. Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness work together, but when Joy and Sadness get lost, they must journey through unfamiliar places to get back home.
From co-directors and co-writers Pete Docter (director of “Monsters Inc.” and “Up”) and Ronnie Del Carmen (storyboard artist for “Ratatouille”, “Batman: The Animated Series”, “Where’s Waldo?”) comes the Disney/Pixar film “Inside Out”.
Born from the idea by Pete Docter after noticing changes in his daughter’s personality as she got older, the story development after consultation with numerous psychologists about interpersonal relationships would lead to the creation of “Inside Out” which received critical praise worldwide and would gross over $851 million in the box office (the original budget is $175 million).
The film would feature a voice cast with well-known talents such as Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Richard Kind, Bill Hader, Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling, Kaitlyn Dias, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan, Paula Poundstone, Bobby Moynihan, Paula Pell, David Goelz, Frank Oz, Josh Cooley, Flea, John Ratzenberger, Rashida Jones, to name a few.
And the film was released on Blu-ray courtesy of Disney.
“Inside Out” begins with a baby girl named Riley being born and within her mind, we are introduced to five personifications of her core emotions.
Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler), Sadness (voiced by Phyllis Smith), Fear (voiced by Bill Hader), Anger (voiced by Lewis Black) and Disgust (voiced by Mindy Kaling) come to life and living in the conscience in Riley’s mind.
And as these emotions worked together, her memories are stored into color orbs, the most important are stored in a hub which powers five “islands” which reflect the personalities of Riley.
As Joy is the dominant emotion, Riley is a person who is often happy but she often has to keep an eye out for the very curious Sadness, who wants to often touch the various orbs, leading to sad memories for Riley.
And as Riley (voiced by Kaitlyn Dias) gets older, by the time she is 11-years-old, life changes are in store for her, her mother Jill (voiced by Diane Lane) and her father Bill (voiced by Kyle MacLachlan) are relocating to his new job location in San Francisco, away from Minnesota.
And while Riley tries to keep a positive outlook on life, for some reason, Sadness tries to touch the orbs which suddenly release happy memories, that suddenly become sad, as Riley starts to deal with the emotions that she misses Minnesota. Misses her friends and having difficulty being in a new school, not living in the same happy home.
As Joy is worried that Sadness has been turning Riley’s happy memories into sad memories, when Joy instructs Sadness to not touch anything…unfortunately, Sadness’ curiosity leads to her setting a chain of events which leads Joy trying to prevent Sadness from making Riley sad anymore.
But in the process, the two end up getting in a struggle, her positive emotions being scattered and ultimately the core memories including both Joy and Sadness being sucked into the memories hub and shutting down all of Riley’s core emotions.
With only Fear, Anger and Disgust manning the headquarters and not sure how to act when Joy is in charge, this sets Riley to become a sad, depressed and angry child who is becoming more defiant towards her parents.
Can Joy and Sadness find a way to work together and get back and help Riley?
VIDEO:
“Inside Out” is visually impressive. Presented in 1080p High Definition (1:78:1 aspect ratio), the picture quality is absolutely fantastic as animation is top notch, features a colorful palette (courtesy of the emotions) with certain scenes that look vibrant. But if there is one thing to say and that is the detail is impressive, the character textures, may it be clothing, hair or overall environments are fantastic!
I didn’t notice any banding issues or artifacting, if anything “Inside Out” looks fantastic in HD!
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Inside Out” is presented in English 7.1 DTS Master Audio and French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, English 2.0 Descriptive Audio.
The dialogue and musical score are crystal clear, there are a number of action-based sequences that really utilize the surround channels very well. If anything, audophiles should be content with this lossless soundtrack.
Subtitles are in English SDH, French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Inside Out” includes the following special features (split into two discs):
- Lava – (7:12) The short film that aired before “Inside Out” in theaters.
- Riley’s First Date? – (4:40) A short film in which Riley’s father meets her date.
- Paths to Pixar: The Women of Inside Out – (11:22) A fantastic featurette about the women who made “Inside Out” possible, from the voice acting to the creative side.
- Mixed Emotions – (7:17) A featurette about the character design of the film.
- Audio Commentary – Featuring audio commentary by co-director/writers Pete Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen.
- Story of the Story – (10:30) A featurette about how Pete Docter came up with the film, the character and design of the overall film.
- Mapping the Mind – (8:24) A look at how the film was designed with the mind of a 11-year-old girl.
- Our Dads, the Filmmakers – (7:25) Director Pete Docter’s daughter Elie and composer Michael Giacchino’s daughter Gracie Giacchino discuss their father’s work.
- Into the Unknown: The Sound of Inside Out – (7:09) A featurette about the sound effects used in the film.
- The Misunderstood Art of Animation Film Editing – (4:43) A featurette about what animation film editing really is about.
- Mind Candy – (14:26) A featurette about the extra character moments.
- Deleted Scenes – Featuring a general introduction by director Pete Docter and four deleted scenes with an introduction by Docter.
- Trailers – Featuring three trailers for “Inside Out”.
EXTRAS:
“Inside Out” comes with a slipcover and a Disney Movie Rewards code.
I have to give credit to Pete Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen for wanting to take on a subject that many parents have gone through.
That is the changing emotions of our children as they get older but also how they deal with life changes and interpersonal relationships.
As a father, I have watched my child be the loving son and then by the age of 11 and 12, it was like a switched was flicked on and I’m dealing with another person. It’s often a conversation I have with other parents of “is this normal?” when it comes to your children’s pre-teen behavior.
But it’s interesting how Pixar/Disney took on the subject matter by creating characters for 11-year-old Riley’s emotions and seeing the conflicted emotions. We know that Riley is not a character who likes to fuss a lot. She tries to be happy no matter the circumstance.
But it’s natural to see her feel sad about moving away, especially the whole different lifestyle change from Minnesota to San Francisco. But I also applaud how the creators dealt with her parents and how they handled Riley’s temper, when her emotions become out of whack.
While the emotions were interesting in terms of character design, one thing that captured my attention is how much CG animation has improved and how the textures are much more detailed and life-like. I was impressed by the overall visuals of the film.
As for the Blu-ray release, picture quality is top-notch, as with the lossless soundtrack which was crystal clear when it came to dialogue and musical score. And the Blu-ray release comes with a good number of special features as well. So, I was quite pleased with Inside Out as an overall Blu-ray product.
Overall, I felt that “Inside Out” was well-crafted. In fact, it’s an amazing film that really puts emotions into perspective and that while being happy is important, it’s also natural and OK to be sad. It happens to everyone, but you can learn from your emotions. Whereas all Disney films always have a happy ending, “Inside Out” gives a new spin to that perspective about happiness and sadness and the creators of the film did their research when creating this film that revolves around emotions.
“Inside Out” is smartly written, features amazing visuals and once again, another beautifully crafted Disney Pixar film that I highly recommended!
