The Turbulent World of Teenage Emotions: ‘Inside Out 2’ Review

Hockey game

Becoming a teenager can sometimes feel like a wrecking ball flung directly through your brain. That’s what happens to Riley’s “headquarters” in “Inside Out 2.” The sequel to the award-winning “Inside Out” hits it out of the park again.

Continuing the story of the critically acclaimed 2015 film, “Inside Out,” which followed 11-year-old Riley’s personified emotions through the difficulties brought on by her family’s move from Minnesota to San Francisco, “Inside Out 2” sees Riley two years older and once again facing massive changes.

“Growing up involves a lot of reassessing priorities. Deciding which of your gut feelings to pursue is awkward, messy and sometimes disastrous, but life goes on and, generally, things work out.”

After a demonstration of the well-oiled machine Riley’s emotions have become using the lessons learned in the first movie — a particularly successful game of hockey — Joy takes us through the current state of Riley’s life: her new friends, her forming system of beliefs, and her newfound sense of self. Things are looking up for Riley and her crew when a flashing, screaming siren shakes them out of their comfortable routine — puberty has arrived.

Here’s where the wrecking ball comes in. Riley’s brain gets restructured to make room for a gaggle of new emotions: Ennui, Embarrassment, Envy, and their overzealous leader Anxiety.

On the outside of her head, Riley is headed to a three-day hockey camp with her best friends that could define the next four years of her social life. On the inside, the new emotions are butting heads with the old as Anxiety becomes convinced she knows what’s best for Riley, and Joy is getting in the way.

Puberty

The idea that going through puberty would trigger the emergence of “new” emotions tripped me up initially, and honestly, I still think it’s a bit of a gimmick — does anyone really believe a 6-year-old never feels embarrassment or envy? But setting that aside, Riley’s difficulties with self-worth and friendship and their corresponding inward disasters rang true to the horrors of the early teenage years.

Part of what made the first movie so effective was its basis in actual psychology — filmmakers consulted with psychologists to accurately reflect the inner workings of an 11-year-old’s mind — and it turns out our brains have more stories to tell.

Set pieces like the back of the mind and the literally growing sense of self provide fresh visualizations of familiar experiences. As Joy, Sadness, Anxiety, and the rest of the crew frantically scurried through Riley’s mind, I found myself thinking, “Oh yeah, that is what that feels like!”

Along with making these experiences a little more comprehensible, “Inside Out 2” also sends a pretty comforting message: Whether anxiety is right has no bearing on whether it’s helpful.

Riley is being judged by the other girls, they do think her taste in music is childish, and her hockey coach isn’t happy with her performance. But like Joy reminds Anxiety at the end of the movie, Riley can only control so much, and that’s completely OK.

Hockey camp

Growing up involves a lot of reassessing priorities. Deciding which of your gut feelings to pursue is awkward, messy, and sometimes disastrous, but life goes on and, generally, things work out.