‘Inside Out’ Review

Mainstream critics — and audiences — went gaga over “Inside Out,” an animated adventure that cleverly takes place in the brain of a young girl to show the pain and joy experienced by an 11-year-old who’s uprooted from her fun-filled, happy life in Minnesota to move to grungy San Francisco with her parents. Inside the headquarters, the control center in the mind of Riley, resides the personifications of emotions — Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith) — who guide the young girl in her daily existence — mostly a pleasurable life with her loving parents, best friend and a stint as a star ice hockey player at school. Key to maintaining this are Riley’s “core” memories, which determine her actions, personality and family interaction. But once in San Francisco, things go awry at her new school, and Sadness mistakenly contaminates a core memory, which causes other core memories to falter, forcing Joy (and Sadness) to embark on a journey in the mind to make things right. This latest Disney-Pixar outing is inventive, beautifully animated, and moving in its lessons about life — how contradictory emotions can work together (it’s natural to have mixed feelings), how our emotions help us connect with others or recover from loss, how letting go is an important part of growing up, how it’s OK to be sad (we can even grow from it). Joy and Sadness’ adventure through Riley’s mind — and how their actions affect Riley’s outer existence — is fun-filled, creative and at times moving, and always sentimental as Riley struggles with her feelings. I’ve argued in the past that there’s nothing wrong with sentimentality in films, but this one’s all too syrupy for me. I wasn’t moved. Vitals: Director: Pete Docter. Stars: Voices of Amy Poehler, Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling, Bill Hader, Phyllis Smith, Kaitlyn Dias, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan. 2015, CC, MPAA rating: PG, 102 min., Family Animated, Box office gross: $339.354 million, (Pixar/Disney. Extras: “LAVA” (theatrical short film): inspired by the isolated beauty of tropical islands and the explosive allure of ocean volcanoes,this is a musical love story that takes place over millions of years; commentary with directors Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen, and producer Jonas Rivera. Blu-ray adds “Riley’s First Date?” exclusive animated short film; “Story of the Story” featurette; “Paths to Pixar: The Women of Inside Out” featurette; “Mixed Emotions” featurette. “Mapping the Mind” in which the movie’s artists take you through the years-long process of designing and creating a world everyone knows, but no one has ever seen – the human mind; “Our Dads, the Filmmakers” behind the scenes with Elie Docter (daughter of director, Pete Docter) and Grace Giacchino (daughter of composer, Michael Giacchino); “Into the Unknown: The Sound of Inside Out;” “The Misunderstood Art of Animation Film Editing”; selected scenes; “Mind Candy,” a montage of toolkit and interstitials produced for “Inside Out”; trailers.