Inside Out (2015) introduced us to Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness; the four key emotions doing their best to work out how to help a young girl named Riley; one trying to process an unexpected move from the Midwest to San Francisco.  

Starring Amy Poehler, Lewis Black, Phyllis Smith, Ayo Edebiri and Tony Hale; one of my concerns before watching Inside Out 2 was that it would fall victim to the sequel curse – and it does, but not in the worst way. 

The cleverness that was ever present in Inside Out is still there in Inside Out 2. It’s just that because the overall premise no longer has that refreshing newness factor, much of the delight I experienced in this sequel was thanks to the new characters and how cleverly their stories are told. Especially Anxiety, who is perfectly portrayed in voice and energy by Maya Hawke. 

Besides the one or two times when I was less engaged for the aforementioned reason, the moment a sense of dread truly came over me was at the beginning, when Disgust (who was memorably voiced by Mindy Kaling in the first movie, but now by Liza Lapira) started speaking. I feared that I was not going to enjoy this sequel because I was very attached to Kaling’s distinctive voice and energy as Disgust. 

Luckily, for me, the arrival of the very energetic and highly engaging Anxiety was so fun to watch that the absence of Kaling’s voice work proved less of a problem. Essentially, I was very anxious that Inside Out 2 was going to disappoint me terribly until Anxiety came along and saved everything. Ha! 

If you saw Inside Out, definitely watch Inside Out 2. Like almost all sequels, it may not be as good as the first, but it’s still good. And I’d hate for you to miss out on Anxiety, Embarrassment, Envy, Ennui and my other new favourite, Nostalgia. There’s also the introduction of Sarcasm. You are going to want to see that and all the super well-edited moments.

Happy Film Loving,

G