Saturday afternoon I went to the AMC-15 Theatre in Century City to see the much-heralded Pixar Animation-Disney film, 'INSIDE OUT.' Note: the film was made in 3D but nothing indicated when I bought a ticket on-line that I would be seeing a regular version. Not until I sat down and realized there were no glasses did I learn it was such. Perhaps for the better, since the 3D might have distracted from what was a very, very unusual, confusing film. Astonishing, yes, that it was. Brilliant in its conception, yes. Amazingly rendered, certainly executed with animation which is breathtaking in its CGI-visuals. But here's the kicker.....I may be the only film critic who will tell you what I see as the truth...it is a difficult movie for an adult to sit through, headsplittingly complex, and after awhile it is.....boring. Am I being heretical? Crazy in my mind?, which is an interesting concept since the movie takes place in the mind of an 11-year old girl. I must note that the film had the biggest Pixar opening since "Toy Story 3". As of this writing, it has grossed a hundred million dollars. The movie's rapturous response seems to have been driven by the strength of the Pixar brand, the incredibly favorable reviews from all critics, and the responses of the audiences themselves on opening days. As I looked around the theatre, I was told that about 70% of the viewers were families, and that 40% of the audience was 12 or younger, with more than 50% being female. As I wander through my everyday world, I realize it has become a cultural phenomenon, something which everyone feels they should see. And yes, they should, as long as they are forewarned.
The film opens with a delightful seven-minute Pixar animated short, LAVA, about two volcanoes in Hawaii who have a kind of love story over a million years, charmingly directed by James Ford Murphy. Then the director of "Inside Out," Peter Doctor, comes on screen and quietly thanks the audience for coming to see his movie. (I was a huge fan of his delightful Ratatouille, about the mouse in the French kitchen who wanted to be a chef. He then won an Oscar for directing the magnificent UP.) He makes reference here to the origin of the movie with his young daughter, having noticed her mood changes in recent years and wanting to explore what was driving these personality and behavior changes. He and his co-writers Meg Le Fauve and John Cooley, along with co-director Ronaldo del Carmen, did extensive research with child psychologists and professional behavior experts to try and get into the head of the growing child. And that's the basis of this extraordinary movie....getting into the mind of Riley Anderson, the young girl who is our lead character, voiced by Kaitlyn Dias.
We see her as a loving, happy youngster living in Minneapolis with her parents (voiced by Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan) and, going to school and playing on the ice hockey team. (It's a big sport in Milwaukee.) Suddenly her father gets a new job in San Francisco and the family swiftly moves there. To a creepy, decrepit old house. She is shell-shocked, no old friends, a difficult school transition, and rejection on the hockey court. Every waking moment of Riley's life is seen through the eyes of five of her primal emotions, animated, voiced by well-known names: Joy (Amy Poehler, a joyous blue-haired sprite), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Louis Black, so loud in his depiction of a red fireplug guy), Disgust (Mindy Kaling)...and Sadness (Phyllis Smith, of The Office, playing a round, blue, sad-eyed figure). They command most of the screen time and lead us into a 94-minute adventure which has never been replicated before in a film. At the end I asked the eight year old boy sitting next to me, "Did you understand it?", and he thought for a moment and said, "Yes, I got most of it...but not all. I think I have to see it again to understand some of the action." His younger brother was restless and seemed inattentive after a half-hour or so, like me.
What is it that bothered me most as an older mind-wandering viewer?. I would say the incessant energy of it all, it never stopped moving swiftly onto new images, new concepts, new characters...all in Riley's mind-set while her traumatic life is unfolding in real time. She hates her school, teammates, and secretly prepares to run away and take a bus back to Minneapolis, surreptitiously taking the fare from her momma's handbag. (A good message for kids in the audience?) All of this viewed and commented on and frantically acted upon by her five (no, six), friends. Bing Bong, voiced well by Richard Kind, her imaginary cat-elephant old friend, added to the mix without much explanation. They work from a control panel where they exert influences on Riley's memories in the form of glowing spheres. There's another aspect of her character called core memories which I didn't quite get. Then there is another layer called "Friendship Island" and Goofball Island". Beyond that is her long-term memory storage site filled with thousands of memory spheres... leading to another aspect of Riley's brain, Imagination Land, and then Abstract Thought (cubed building blocks.) Production designer Ralph Eggleston sure had his work cut out for him. There's a studio called Dream Studios which features a movie poster for a film called, "I'm Falling For a Very Longtime Into a Pit." My feelings exactly. The entire film consists of Joy and Sadness racing through the imaginary world to return home on the Train of Thoughts -- an actual train which only runs when she is awake -- in time to save Riley from her other three emotions.
What I realized is that the younger kids in the audience, starting about four or five and going up to early teens, are responding to the madcap-paced action on the screen without any comprehension of the interior scope of the mental experience. The very young ones get restless quickly, and there were a lot of walk-outs after a half-hour or so. I went back and reread all of the reviews by the New York Times, the L.A.Times, the Wall Street Journal.....all by reviewers whom I respect and admire. Not one commented on the obvious truth....this is an adult-oriented movie at heart, and a deeply, deeply complex and psychologically-informative one at that. Of course I was moved, stimulated and provoked by much of it, and I am told that many adults had tears in their eyes at the end when it all comes together in a happy ending of sorts. School is better, her parents understand her longing for the old life, and she is accepted on the hockey team. Meanwhile, her five alter-ego personality-animated characters sing and dance and take the credit for what happens. On the whole, the movie is melancholy-inducing, with Sadness winning the race in a way, with all of us acknowledging that this emotion is a prerequisite for happiness/joy in life. Yes, I'll buy that.
No question this film will win the Best Animated Feature Oscar come next March, though knowing the age level of my fellow Academy members I doubt it will join Doctor's "UP" or "Toy Story 3" on the short list of Best Feature Film nominations. (For one of those, read my Huffington review and see Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's moving dramedy, "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.")
I had been tempted to leave the movie but felt obligated to see it through, then needed a stiff drink at the Chinese restaurant, Meizhou Dongpo, next to the theatre to settle my nerves. I wonder if the kids seeing the movie went home and dreamed about all of the things they had seen. Bad dreams, good ones, confusing ones. Oh, yes, those were my dreams also...only I have them every night.
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