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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.