Vice-versa 2

Let me start off by congratulating Pixar on yet another exhilarating achievement. Many people are wondering why they are having this kind of astronomical success at the box office. Simply put, millions of people out there were able to form a deep bond with the first film throughout the nine years following its 2015 release. Myself included, as the whole reason I created my imdb account that same year, was to drop a rate of 10/10 without ever even trying to justify it. Beautifully done worldbuilding by the legendary Pete Docter. Such a sophisticated film that will be talked about and praised through countless generations.

Having said all that, let's discuss the possible reasons Inside Out 2 might not have stuck its landing the way a lot of fans of the original may have wanted to. Let's just be upfront about it: the rhythm and pacing this time around are not very good. To elaborate on that, the sequencing of events seemed to have been oversimplified to fit into the 90 minute runtime the Pixar team aimed for. Moreover, the overall product feels rushed, without giving the audience enough time to develop feelings and emotional bonds towards what is happening as the scenes unpack in real time. To describe it in the way I came out of the movie theater like: "Man, is it over already?" The movie doesn't take its time to make us care for what the Emotions or Riley are going through. Without getting into spoilers, I feel like the movie fails to convey the complex emotions the movie is based around, and after having watched the trailers, one can already picture the type of climax and the way the film expects us to get attached to the characters at the end. But don't get it wrong, this film still manages to evoke certain emotions (although not as strong as the ones evoked in the first movie), which is a Pixar guarantee at this point. But still, despite all of its efforts to connect with the audience, I felt a little detached when the credits started rolling.

All in all, this really feels like a watered down version of what Pixar probably had in mind and due to the actors strikes and all those issues outside of their control, could have played a role in propelling this seemingly rushed product. Not trying to justify the movie's shortcomings, but you have to be fair when criticizing.

Let's not fool ourselves, there are some brilliant elements that I feel like they barely scratched the surface on and I'm hoping to see them properly developed one day.

It pains me, as I've always considered Inside Out (2015) my absolute favorite animated movie, and I know, you should never seek for perfection specially when it comes to sequels, but it still left me somewhat disappointed that it didn't receive the same level of care that the first one did.

Overall 7/10 Good but not especial.

All in all, while "Inside Out 2" has a good concept and loveable characters, it is not perfect. Promoted as an entertaining event that lasts one and a half hours, it has a problem with a story. It introduces Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear again who travel through teenage Riley's mind, but it is not as profound as the first movie. While pacing appears to be slow with large chunks where not much story occurs and the audience is not able to form a bond with the character. Although the first film was emotional and deeply meaningful, "Inside Out 2" lacks a single, overarching message compared to its predecessor. The humor and warmth are insufficient to make up for the shoddy plot, even though some of the animation and voice acting are excellent. Younger audiences will find it entertaining, but it falls short of the first film's potential, which will disappoint some viewers who were hoping for yet another heartwarming tale.

I am honestly surprised at seeing the amount of high ratings of 9s and 10s in the reviews making me question if we watched the same film or not.

Maybe I'm getting old and I'm not the target audience of these kinds of movies anymore, or maybe I was just too sleepy when watching this, but unlike the first one, I did not like this one much. It is not insultingly bad or anything, after all, I'm giving it an above average rating.

This movie compared to the first doesn't have the soul and emotional connection you'd expect. This movie in my opinion is just another unnecessary sequel solely made for grabbing cash, and cash grab it did.

The first problem with the movie is the pacing. The story is incredibly rushed even though it has the same runtime as the first, so it's weird how everything feels like needed more time to develop, while everything in the first felt adequate and enough. The addition of the new characters definitely needed a lot more time.

At the same time, nothing that interesting happened here in my opinion, and made the whole thing boring for me. The sense of exploration of different parts of Riley's mind from the first movie is gone and the film is more focused on the real-life story, so the whole Joy and the gang going through the mind is just that, a simple road trip story. Nothing interesting or of note happens there. I don't remember a single scene in this movie that stood out to me as interesting or creative at all, while I still remember Bing Bong, them going through that train station or room that changed their animation style, the scene of them messing with Riley's dreams and many more.

Just so much happened in the first film that it feels like that movie was over 2 hours. But I just did not find a single scene in this movie note-worthy.

The next problem for me is that I just don't care about these characters here, especially the new ones. There is no emotional connection, unlike the first movie. The real-life struggles of Riley in the first film were more relatable and the whole Joy realizing Sandness is necessary and the Bing Bong storyline were the soul of that film and made you actually care and have an emotional connection to them. This is nonexistent in this sequel.

It doesn't feel like they had an idea for a story and decided to make a movie about it, it feels more like a studio-mandated sequel that they tried to come up with a story afterward. The plot of this movie is so boring and so few things happen here that it feels like I'm watching Inside Out: The Series and just watching a random episode where Riley needs to get on the cool hockey team.

I understand that someone would like this, especially the younger generation, but what I don't get are the 9s and 10s, because this is so obviously and clearly inferior to the first film in many aspects that I don't understand how someone can say this is on the same level or even better than the first!

Overall, the movie is not that bad if you don't have anything better to watch, but I am disappointed that this movie did nothing for me after going in having seen the high ratings and the reviews. It is an example of an unnecessary cash-grab sequel. Inside Out is one I consider one of Pixar's greats and will rewatch it if I feel like it because it's a really enjoyable, deep, emotional, innovative, creative, and beautiful film. Very rewatchable. But Inside Out 2? I don't think I'll ever rewatch this one, one time was more than enough.

A sequel with beautiful execution and sufficient maturity to make this film a sequel that is no less than the first film. Even though the conflict shown is not as complex as the first film, but it still made my tears almost slide through my eyes. Such as the scene of Bing Bong saying the dialogue "Take her to the moon for me" in the first film, I did not find any emotions that were successfully expressed by the dialogue or scenes. But okay, that's okay, I still like it. The point is that you will find a feeling of nostalgia, a strong emotional feeling (although not too much), this film will be liked by every millennial child and children who want to go back to watch the second film to reminisce, I mean children who have grown up. The overall rating for this film is 8/10, it is definitely worth watching.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but this is one of the best Pixar movies to date. I did not expect to like this movie very much. Disney and Pixar have been vastly disappointing and even controversial recently, but Inside Out 2 rivals Pixar's best movies like Up, Monsters inc., Ratatouille, The Incredibles and Toy Story in quality.

I found the story very moving. The best animated movies ever made appeal not just to children, but resonate with the more mature audience as well. And that's what this movie does.

The theme was very poignant. I loved the introduction of the new characters and especially how they incorporated anxiety into the transformation of puberty. Anxiety is not fun, but many people struggle with it.

The ending was great too. I love that they didn't wrap it up in a cliche way.

Great job Disney and Pixar!