After COVID, many movie fans wondered if the theater experience was going away, as fewer movies made an impact at the box office. Sometimes, however, a film comes along that does such big numbers that it can’t help but restore the hope of cinema. This year gave us hope with Deadpool & Wolverine and Inside Out 2, with the latter being the biggest box office winner of the year at a staggering $653 million domestically.

Animated family films and sequels tend to do well in this area, but there’s something different about the Inside Out movies. The original Inside Out in 2015 made $356 million in the U.S., yet its sequel nearly doubled it and received reviews just as great as the first. This is because of the message behind the animation and the humor. With its stories about emotions and growing up, Pixar and Disney have found a way to not just entertain but teach audiences both young and old, just like Pixar used to do so well during its early heyday.

The Toy Story Franchise Told an Emotional Story About Growing Up

In 1995, animated movies changed forever thanks to Pixar’s Toy Story. The computer animation was jaw-dropping and revolutionary, but beyond that innovation, and fun characters like Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), was a very important story about growing up. Now, animated movies have addressed that before, but never as well as Toy Story did. In the original trilogy, Andy is a boy growing up who loves his toys as if they were his friends, but as the movies go on, Andy grows up and lets his childhood toys go. How many of us cried at the end of Toy Story 3 when Andy gave the toys away to a little girl who would love them like he did?

Related ‘Inside Out 2’ Is Missing Its Own Emotional Bing Bong Moment The permanent loss of Bing Bong in ‘Inside Out’ is more heartbreaking than what Riley experiences in ‘Inside Out 2’.

It was an issue we could all relate to. We all grew up and had to leave at least some of our childish ways behind. I can clearly remember selling my toys at a garage sale and how it hurt to let go of that part of me. After a series of hits, it felt like Pixar and Disney started to run out of ideas, or at least forgot what fans loved about their animated films. In 2020, Pete Docter’s Soul explored growing up, as did Domee Shi’s Turning Red in 2022, but neither of them did it with the overwhelming success of Inside Out.

‘Inside Out’ Treated Kids Like People and Not Simply Characters

When Inside Out was released in 2015, it was following a trifecta of Pixar disappointments in Cars 2, Brave, and Monsters University. None of those movies were bad, but they also didn’t seem to say anything new. Inside Out’s story about an eleven-year-old girl, Riley (Kaitlin Dias), going through the pangs of growing up wasn’t exactly new either, but how the story was told sure was.

Riley goes through what many of us did, as she moves to a new town with a new school and new friends, and her busy dad ignores her in favor of his work. Riley’s prepubescent emotions are on hyperdrive, and while that could have been explored simply through her story, Inside Out was clever in making characters out of those emotions, all with attributes to match them. For example, Joy (Amy Poehler) is happy and positive, Sadness (Phyllis Smith) is a downer, and Anger (Lewis Black) blows up at anything. Inside Out is funny, for sure, but it was also smart in treating its child character, and thus its child audience, like people and not props for a story. Inside Out was for all ages, but it told kids that they and what they felt really mattered.

‘Inside Out’ 2 Is a Sequel That’s Just as Important
Image via Pixar

Most movies don’t need sequels, but Inside Out was perfectly set up for it. If Riley was going through some emotions at 11, just imagine her becoming a teenager! Inside Out 2 explored that, with Riley (Kensington Tallman) now 13 and desperate to fit in, all while she tries to hold on to what she has and believe in herself. Puberty is the scariest time of all, which meant we’d get to meet a whole host of new characters.

Inside Out 2 introduced Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui, the dominating feelings of our early teenage years. It told a nuanced, complex story about the awkwardness of young adulthood but without being preachy. Instead, just like the original, it treated Riley like a real person (she’s not always easy to root for), and thus treated its growing audience as real people too. If you were a teenager watching it, you got to feel like you were being seen and heard. If you were a little kid, you were being taught what to expect and how to hold on to your joy. If you were an adult, you could only nod your head at the accuracy. Great movies are often described as being for everyone, but Inside Out and Inside Out 2 truly are. Let’s hope that we get to meet Riley again in a few years when she’s meeting boys and learning how to drive. Just imagine those emotions!

Inside Out 2 is available to watch on Disney+ in the U.S.

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Inside Out 2 follows the emotional journey of a now-teenage Riley as she encounters new challenges and emotions. As her mind expands, so does the complexity of her inner world, where new emotions must collaborate with old ones to guide her through adolescence, creating dynamic and heartfelt experiences.Release Date June 14, 2024 Director Kelsey Mann Cast Amy Poehler , Maya Hawke , Kensington Tallman , Liza Lapira , Tony Hale , Lewis Black , Phyllis Smith , Ayo Edebiri , Lilimar , Grace Lu , Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green , Adèle Exarchopoulos , Diane Lane , Kyle MacLachlan , Paul Walter Hauser , Yvette Nicole Brown , Ron Funches , James Austin Johnson , Yong Yea , Steve Purcell , Dave Goelz , Kirk R. Thatcher , Frank Oz , Paula Pell , June Squibb , Pete Docter , Paula Poundstone , John Ratzenberger , Sarayu Blue , Flea , Bobby Moynihan , Kendall Coyne Schofield Runtime 96 Minutes Expand