Inside Out - Blu-ray Review

Details: By Loron Hays; 19 June 2015

{jatabs type="content" position="top" height="auto" skipAnim="true" mouseType="click" animType="animFade"}

[tab title="Movie Review"]

Inside Out - Movie Review

{googleAds}

And. I. Still. Have. Chills.

That’s how insanely good Pixar’s Inside Out is. One could nitpick and point to faults in a frenzied middle but, with a concept as daring as the one presented here, there is simply no argument one could legitimately make to dissuade you from embracing Inside Out. Singlehandedly, Pixar’s newest feature recaptures the charm; the magic; and the significance of their classic run of films. Inside Out is truly something special.

Directed by Pete Doctor (Up), Inside Out is the strongest contender for this year’s Best Animated Film. Quite frankly, if the Oscars were to be held in the next couple of months, I dare suggest that this animated feature could win Best Film. Doctor takes a simple idea and hammers into place a strong narrative structure that is the most emotionally rewarding experiences you will EVER have at the cinema this year.

Very little about Inside Out has been seen before. Conceptually, this is a masterpiece. It’s all played out in a preteen girl’s brain and the anthropomorphized emotions within. Considering the mediocrity we’ve previously been handed with Monsters University and Brave, Doctor and co-director Ronaldo Del Carmen’s film is Pixar’s best blast of fresh (and inspired) air in a long, long while.

Pixar’s new film imagines that a person’s emotions are actually tiny individuals all operating within the person to keep him or her functioning in a socially acceptable way. It likens our unique experiences to a quick visit on tiny islands in our brain. But, in the age of an alarming number of people with unchecked emotions and children with behavioral and emotional issues, this simple idea of how emotions are regulated becomes a relatively charged one that resonates at great length after the final credits have rolled. This, my friends, is a movie for us right here and right now.

Inside Out is the story of Riley (voiced by Kaitlyn Dias) and her emotional detachment upon her parent’s (Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan) sudden move from Minnesota to San Francisco for a new work venture. As you can imagine, all of Riley’s world is rocked and, suddenly, this once happy 11-year-old is hit with some serious emotions. Within Riley are Joy (Amy Poehler) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith) at mission control trying to balance her core memories so that her life is one of absolute contentment. This change alters everything.

Scriptwriters Doctor, Meg LeFauvre, and Josh Cooley imagine their balancing act as a creative game of collecting glowing balls that represent each memory. Some aren’t caught and they become forgotten memories. The meaningful ones are collected and that makes up her personality. It is this game – which is its own sense of urgency – that defines this beat-the-clock approach inside the 90-minute animated feature as Riley begins to tailspin into the gutters of childhood.

Along for the ride within Riley are other emotions like Anger (Lewis Black who simply steals the show), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), and Fear (Bill Hader) but – as Riley’s situation is further complicated by the accidental replacement of Sadness and Joy – they run amuck. Mirroring Riley’s frenzied emotions is the middle part of the story when Riley’s onetime imaginary pink friend (voiced by Richard Kind) shows up. Suddenly, Riley is rudderless and the other emotions are unsuccessful at managing her changing her personality. The two lost emotions – on their own journey within Riley’s changing landscape – must return to maintain the fragile balance within her.

Nothing about Inside Out is cheap or gimmicky. This is raw ground for an animated film; a true rarity. It’s heartfelt and earns every single tear you will shed while watching it unfold. You will genuinely care for Riley. I promise. The movie doesn’t lie to children and it certainly doesn’t feed them traditional Walt Disney delusions.

Some audiences might be turned off by just how real and rugged the shifting landscape of Inside Out actually is. It may even be too much for the youngest member of some families. Regardless, the emotional conflict Riley experiences is an honest portrayal of life and every child and adult will need (and want) to see it. Inside Out is a brilliant, complicated, and colorful reminder that life is necessarily hard and it is the insignificant moments that make us whole.

I seriously doubt ANYONE will walk away from this movie with a dry eye. That’s how insanely powerful the message that Doctor and his team deliver. From Riley’s imagination and abstract thinking abilities to her strongest moments of fear and even to the movie in her own mind, Inside Out creates the world within Riley and reminds us of the vast galaxies within us all.

Inside Out is how Pixar gets its mojo back.

[/tab]

[tab title="Film Details"]

MPAA Rating: PG for mild thematic elements and some action.
Runtime: 94 mins
Director: Pete Docter, Ronaldo Del Carmen
Writer: Pete Doctor
Cast: Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Lewis Black
Genre: Comedy | Family
Tagline: Meet the little voices inside your head.
Memorable Movie Quote: "All right, make a show of force, I don't want to have to put the foot down.."
Distributor: Pixar
Official Site: http://movies.disney.com/inside-out/
Release Date: June 19, 2015
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: November 3, 2015
Synopsis: Growing up can be a bumpy road, and it's no exception for Riley, who is uprooted from her Midwest life when her father starts a new job in San Francisco. Like all of us, Riley is guided by her emotions Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith). The emotions live in Headquarters, the control center inside Riley's mind, where they help advise her through everyday life. As Riley and her emotions struggle to adjust to a new life in San Francisco, turmoil ensues in Headquarters. Although Joy, Riley's main and most important emotion, tries to keep things positive, the emotions conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house and school..

[/tab]

[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

Inside Out - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - November 3, 2015
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1; English: DTS-HD HR 5.1; English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (320kbps); French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Three-disc set (2 BDs, 1 DVD); iTunes digital copy; Google Play digital copy; DVD copy
Region Encoding: Region-free Playback

The film has received a stellar 1080p/1.85:1 transfer that does what it can with the grungy source material. The new interview clips look good, but the original material has a very gritty, grainy look (it was shot on 16 mm, so that's to be expected). This is by no means a showcase for your HDTV, but it looks about as good as it's ever likely to. The DTS HD 5.1 Master Audio mix does what it can with the material, too, but the fuzziness of some of the music is always going to be there given the conditions in which it was recorded. Dialogue tends to be clean and clear.

Supplements:

Commentary:

Directors Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen, and producer Jonas Rivera share the commentary duties with this feature-length behind-the-scenes recounting of the making of Pixar’s best film in years.

Special Features:

Because one disc isn’t enough, Disney has spread the supplemental out across two discs. The depth of this release is worthy of envy for every other new release. No detail is spared as Disney provides a new short, the original Lava short that accompanied the movie, plus a ton of new interviews and behind-the-scenes glimpses at the making of the movie. Heck, there’s even a post-production look into how the sounds in the movie were recorded. This is a great movie and probably the best blu-ray release of the year. Seriously. Is there an Oscar category for that? Because this gorgeous beast would surely win.