Inside Out

***DISCLAIMER*** The following review is entirely my opinion. If you comment (which I encourage you to do) be respectful. If you don't agree with my opinion (or other commenters), that's fine. To each their own. These reviews are not meant to be statements of facts or endorsements, I am just sharing my opinions and my perspective when watching the film and is not meant to reflect how these films should be viewed. Finally, the reviews are given on a scale of 0-5. 0, of course, being unwatchable. 1, being terrible. 2, being not great. 3, being okay. 4, being great and 5, being epic! And if you enjoy these reviews feel free to share them and follow the blog or follow me on Twitter (@RevRonster) for links to my reviews and the occasional live-Tweet session of the movie I'm watching!  There's no way mortals work at Pixar.  The creators there have to be gods of some kind.

Inside Out ? 5 out of 5

I?m quite the fan of Pixar?s work.  Ever since I first saw Toy Story, I was hooked with their films.  I hold them completely responsible for the renaissance of animated films that happened and the new golden era of family films we have.  They showed us that animated features don?t have to be song and dance numbers with bright colors and dumb characters meant to occupy your child while you sneak off to power nap or wolf down candy you hide in a secret stash.  Pixar showed us that the stories can by dynamic and deep and the characters can be rich and fun while all existing in a premise unlike everything else out there.  With the exception of the Cars films, I?ve never been disappointed with a Pixar movie and that?s why I bought this one on Blu-ray without actually seeing it.  I figured with their track record, purchasing Inside Out before seeing it was a completely safe bet?and boy was it.

For now on, I'm just going to pretend I have anthropomorphic emotions in my head.

Inside the mind of a small girl named Riley (Kaitlyn Dias), deep within the center of her mind, exists her emotions:  Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling).  These emotions find their work cut out for them when Riley?s mother (Diane Lane) and father (Kyle MacLachlan) packed up their life in the Midwest and moves them to San Francisco.  While the stress of moving comes into play, Sadness starts to act up and begins to turn happier memories into sad ones.  After Sadness takes control of Riley?s mind and ends up creating a sad core memory?the memories that create who and what we are?Joy attempts to stop her from creating any more sadness but accidentally ends up getting her and Sadness lost in the deep recesses of Riley?s brain.  Now they must figure out a way to get back and take control before Fear, Anger and Disgust does something drastic that can change Riley?s life forever.

In all seriousness, Inside Out really creatively captured the difficulties that kids
face as they grow up and their world changes around them.

Like all Pixar films, this feature has some absolutely amazing animation and voice acting.  I really loved the look the emotions had with their glowing appearance and a texture that made them look a bit like Muppets.  The core cast of Poehler, Smith, Hader, Black and Kaling are incredible at bringing to life these characters but the film also has a great supporting cast that helps really give this world life and depth?and yes, John Ratzenberger continues his streak of doing a cameo voice.  Furthermore, and once again like all other Pixar films, the concept of this story is incredibly creative and imaginative.

I get the same way when I see the posts my racist uncle puts on Facebook.

Joy is looking at her hand...she must be high.
That's probably why she's so upbeat.

This unique look at what drives a young girl trying to come to terms with moving across country perfectly illustrates the difficulty that comes with being a kid and growing up.  Seeing inside Riley?s mind and seeing things like memories fading and being forgotten or, more importantly, meeting an imaginary friend from Riley?s childhood help Joy and Sadness on their journey really crafted some incredibly emotional scenes.  It?s never surprising that Pixar creates stories that will fill the viewer with happiness and incredible sadness (dang, Up makes you cry within the first five minutes) but it?s always impressive how they can create dynamic characters that you get invested with and then have a very strong emotional reaction to.  So, yes, I will admit that Inside Out made me cry.  I watched it with my girlfriend and tried my hardest to not bawl in front of her but the story was so strong and the characters so likable and sympathetic that fighting those feelings were impossible.  So, once again, you made tears come out of my face, Pixar, and I?m not mad at all for you doing it. 

Bing Bong's part in the story really had me in tears.  I don't know if I should be
openly admitting how often this film made me cry.

 

What's that?  No, I'm not crying again.

With its excellent animation, perfecting voice acting cast and a story that is overflowing with creativity, wit, humor and drama Inside Out is just another epic feature from a studio that keeps churning out amazing films.  I find it hard to category which films they?ve done that are their best because their level of creativity is beyond so many other animation studios in existence but I do think that this is definitely one of my top five films they?ve done.  I walked out of this one with no complaints and the only regret being not seeing this one in the theater when it was out?but if I did it then, I would have been trying even harder to not cry because as much as I don?t want my girlfriend to see me shed some tears, I REALLY don?t want complete strangers to see me bawl over the heartbreak of some animated emotions.

INSIDE OUT (2015) REVIEW : Another Pixar?s Best Animated (e)Motion Picture

 

Pixar memang memiliki masalah untuk bangkit lagi ketika Cars 2 merusak segala kedigdayaannya dalam sebuah film animasi. Tahun 2012 dan 2013, Pixar susah untuk mengembalikan lagi kepercayaan penonton terhadap animasi buatannya. Meskipun, Brave, animasi miliki Pixar di tahun 2012 mendapatkan penghargaan Best Animated Picture di ajang Academy Awards tahun 2013. Tahun 2014, Pixar mengambil hiatus untuk merilis film animasi agar bisa berkonsentrasi untuk menghasilkan film animasi terbaiknya.

 

2015 menjadi tahun di mana Pixar akan membalaskan dendam. 2 film animasi Pixar dirilis hanya dalam selang beberapa bulan. Inside Out dan The Good Dinosaur menjadi 2 film animasi Pixar yang akan turun ke medan perang, bersaing dengan film-film animasi lainnya. Inside Out, muncul berada di barisan terdepan film animasi rilisan Pixar dan digadang menjadi sebuah film animasi dengan cerita orisinil dan akan mengembalikan kepercayaan penonton dalam rekam jejak karya milik Pixar.

Pete Docter, sutradara yang berdedikasi penuh di animasi Pixar lewat Up dan Monsters Inc., kembali menghasilkan animasi indah yang akan membuat penonton terpukau. Inside Out, jelas menjadi salah satu film animasi terbaik yang pernah dibuat oleh Pixar yang mampu mengembalikan kedigdayaan Pixar sebagai salah satu tempat film-film animasi terbaik dibuat. Inside Out memiliki performa luar biasa indah dan membuat hati terpanah oleh kisahnya. 

Riley (Kaitlyn Dias), bocah perempuan berusia 11 tahun yang selalu mengalami keceriaan di dalam hari-harinya. Dia memiliki keluarga yang bahagia, teman-teman yang selalu mendukungnya, hobinya dalam Hockey yang berprestasi, dan juga tempat tinggal yang nyaman di Minnesota. Hingga suatu ketika, sang Ayah memutuskan untuk pindah ke San Fransisco untuk urusan bisnisnya. Kehidupan Riley yang lama pun satu persatu hilang dan harus menjalani kehidupannya yang baru.

Hanya saja, cerita sebenarnya bukan berada di kehidupan Riley, melainkan ada di kepala Riley. Bertemulah dengan Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Disgust (Mindy Kailing), dan Anger (Lewis Black). Mereka adalah penyeimbang emosi Riley dalam melakukan kegiatan sehari-hari. Dan saat kehidupan Riley mulai berantakan, Sadness membuat ulah. Ingatan Inti milik Riley harus terserap dan hilang di tempat Ingatan Jangka Panjang bersama Joy juga Sadness. Mereka berdua harus memiliki cara untuk kembali ke tempat mereka agar kehidupan Riley tetap bahagia. 

Setiap manusia memang menghasilkan berbagai macam emosi untuk menghadapi hari-hari mereka. Hanya saja, akan ada satu emosi dominan yang bekerja untuk menjadikan satu orang tersebut menjadi unik. Fenomena itu lah yang coba diangkat oleh Inside Out untuk dijadikan sebuah full-length animated motion picture. Inside Out menjadi sebuah pengalaman menonton yang bisa merasakan kelima emosi utama yang ada dalam pikiran Riley.

Inside Out memang akan terlihat rumit untuk sebuah film animasi yang sebenarnya lebih dikonsumsi oleh anak-anak. Dengan konsep lima emosi yang ada di pikiran Riley dan menggerakkan karakter Riley setiap harinya, bukanlah menjadi pilihan tepat untuk anak-anak bersenang-senang. Hanya saja di luar konsepnya itu, Pete Docter mencoba menjadikan Inside Out menjadi sebuah perjalanan berpetualang ke dalam lautan ingatan manusia yang menyenangkan dengan warna-warna yang cerah.

Inside Out adalah sebuah film yang bisa dikatakan sebagai coming-of-age. Perubahan sikap dan pergolakan psikis luar biasa yang dialami oleh Riley untuk beradaptasi dengan lingkungan barunya berhasil membuat penontonnya bersimpati dengan karakternya. Pete Docter berhasil merekam itu semua lewat film animasinya yang indah. Dilema yang dialami Riley pun dibuat oleh Pete Docter dengan menyenangkan. Pun, dengan membuat 5 emosi utama dengan karakterisasi yang masing-masing unik dan menggemaskan. 

Naskah yang ditulis oleh Pete Docter dan juga dibantu oleh Josh Cooley dan Meg LeFauve berhasil memberikan sebuah perjalanan emosi yang luar biasa. Mengenalkan karakter Joy dan antitesisnya yaitu Sadness sebagai dua emosi utama yang mendominasi kehidupan manusia. Joy dan Sadness adalah dua emosi yang berlawanan hanya saja emosi tersebut terlihat bias. Lihat saja, bagaimana Joy yang memiliki warna kuning masih memiliki atribut berwarna biru di rambutnya yang seharusnya warna tersebut mewakili karakter Sadness.

Pete Docter dan kawan-kawannya pun menyelipkan berbagai macam metafora menyenangkan lewat dialog ataupun pengadeganan di dalam film Inside Out ini. Akan ada banyak petualangan seru yang dialami oleh Joy dan Sadness tetapi tak hanya sekedar seru. Tetapi, memiliki sebuah nilai lain yang bisa ditelaah setelahnya. Terlepas dari itu, Inside Out pun bisa menjadi sebuah media bagi orang tua dalam menghadapi anaknya yang sedang menjalani perubahan dalam fase hidupnya. 

Hal yang dialami oleh Riley jelas akan terasa sangat relevan dengan para penonton yang pernah mengalami hal itu. Ikatan emosi yang dialami penonton dengan film Inside Out pun akan menjadi-jadi. Jika, Toy Story 3 berhasil membuat mata basah di akhir filmnya, maka Inside Out pun juga memiliki potensi tear-jerker yang sama. Pete Docter berhasil mengarahkan emosi di dalam filmnya begitu kuat. Bukan hanya di akhir, Inside Out menyebar momen-momen tear-jerker itu dengan porsi seimbang di sepanjang 94 menit durasinya.

Pun jelas, jangan lupakan scoring yang digarap begitu indah oleh Michael Giacchino. Inside Out jelas memiliki salah satu scoring indah yang tak bisa dilupakan begitu cepat oleh penontonnya. Dentingan piano indah yang berhasil membuat semua adegan di Inside Out memiliki nyawa yang luar biasa. Dengan scoring ini pun, segala pesan emosional yang disampaikan oleh Pete Docter di dalam filmnya pun berhasil tersampaikan kepada penontonnya. 

Maka tak salah, jika Inside Out akan merebut hati para juri Academy Awards lagi di tahun depan. Atau bahkan, mungkin saja Inside Out bisa menjadi kambing hitam untuk menjadi nominasi-nominasi lainnya bersaing dengan film-film kontender Academy Awards lainnya. Bisa lewat Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, dan juga Best Original Score. Meskipun hanya sebagai nominator, setidaknya Inside Out bisa bersaing di nominasi-nominasi tersebut.

Dengan performa luar biasa yang dihasilkan oleh Pete Docter lewat Inside Out, jelas akan membuat para penggemar dan kritikus kembali memercayai Pixar sebagai salah satu kontender berat dalam menggarap film-film animasi. Inside Out jelas tak hanya menceritakan emosi-emosi yang ada di dalam kepala Riley, tetapi juga menjadi sebuah film animasi yang akan membuat penontonnya merasakan emosi yang ada di dalam kepala mereka juga. Definitely be the one of the best animated movie ever made by Pixar ?or maybe in this world.

PS : Dont be late, there will be short animation movie titled ?Lava? and it will cheer you up.

 

INSIDE OUT (2015) REVIEW : Another Pixar?s Best Animated (e)Motion Picture

 

Pixar memang memiliki masalah untuk bangkit lagi ketika Cars 2 merusak segala kedigdayaannya dalam sebuah film animasi. Tahun 2012 dan 2013, Pixar susah untuk mengembalikan lagi kepercayaan penonton terhadap animasi buatannya. Meskipun, Brave, animasi miliki Pixar di tahun 2012 mendapatkan penghargaan Best Animated Picture di ajang Academy Awards tahun 2013. Tahun 2014, Pixar mengambil hiatus untuk merilis film animasi agar bisa berkonsentrasi untuk menghasilkan film animasi terbaiknya.

 

2015 menjadi tahun di mana Pixar akan membalaskan dendam. 2 film animasi Pixar dirilis hanya dalam selang beberapa bulan. Inside Out dan The Good Dinosaur menjadi 2 film animasi Pixar yang akan turun ke medan perang, bersaing dengan film-film animasi lainnya. Inside Out, muncul berada di barisan terdepan film animasi rilisan Pixar dan digadang menjadi sebuah film animasi dengan cerita orisinil dan akan mengembalikan kepercayaan penonton dalam rekam jejak karya milik Pixar.

Pete Docter, sutradara yang berdedikasi penuh di animasi Pixar lewat Up dan Monsters Inc., kembali menghasilkan animasi indah yang akan membuat penonton terpukau. Inside Out, jelas menjadi salah satu film animasi terbaik yang pernah dibuat oleh Pixar yang mampu mengembalikan kedigdayaan Pixar sebagai salah satu tempat film-film animasi terbaik dibuat. Inside Out memiliki performa luar biasa indah dan membuat hati terpanah oleh kisahnya. 

Riley (Kaitlyn Dias), bocah perempuan berusia 11 tahun yang selalu mengalami keceriaan di dalam hari-harinya. Dia memiliki keluarga yang bahagia, teman-teman yang selalu mendukungnya, hobinya dalam Hockey yang berprestasi, dan juga tempat tinggal yang nyaman di Minnesota. Hingga suatu ketika, sang Ayah memutuskan untuk pindah ke San Fransisco untuk urusan bisnisnya. Kehidupan Riley yang lama pun satu persatu hilang dan harus menjalani kehidupannya yang baru.

Hanya saja, cerita sebenarnya bukan berada di kehidupan Riley, melainkan ada di kepala Riley. Bertemulah dengan Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Disgust (Mindy Kailing), dan Anger (Lewis Black). Mereka adalah penyeimbang emosi Riley dalam melakukan kegiatan sehari-hari. Dan saat kehidupan Riley mulai berantakan, Sadness membuat ulah. Ingatan Inti milik Riley harus terserap dan hilang di tempat Ingatan Jangka Panjang bersama Joy juga Sadness. Mereka berdua harus memiliki cara untuk kembali ke tempat mereka agar kehidupan Riley tetap bahagia. 

Setiap manusia memang menghasilkan berbagai macam emosi untuk menghadapi hari-hari mereka. Hanya saja, akan ada satu emosi dominan yang bekerja untuk menjadikan satu orang tersebut menjadi unik. Fenomena itu lah yang coba diangkat oleh Inside Out untuk dijadikan sebuah full-length animated motion picture. Inside Out menjadi sebuah pengalaman menonton yang bisa merasakan kelima emosi utama yang ada dalam pikiran Riley.

Inside Out memang akan terlihat rumit untuk sebuah film animasi yang sebenarnya lebih dikonsumsi oleh anak-anak. Dengan konsep lima emosi yang ada di pikiran Riley dan menggerakkan karakter Riley setiap harinya, bukanlah menjadi pilihan tepat untuk anak-anak bersenang-senang. Hanya saja di luar konsepnya itu, Pete Docter mencoba menjadikan Inside Out menjadi sebuah perjalanan berpetualang ke dalam lautan ingatan manusia yang menyenangkan dengan warna-warna yang cerah.

Inside Out adalah sebuah film yang bisa dikatakan sebagai coming-of-age. Perubahan sikap dan pergolakan psikis luar biasa yang dialami oleh Riley untuk beradaptasi dengan lingkungan barunya berhasil membuat penontonnya bersimpati dengan karakternya. Pete Docter berhasil merekam itu semua lewat film animasinya yang indah. Dilema yang dialami Riley pun dibuat oleh Pete Docter dengan menyenangkan. Pun, dengan membuat 5 emosi utama dengan karakterisasi yang masing-masing unik dan menggemaskan. 

Naskah yang ditulis oleh Pete Docter dan juga dibantu oleh Josh Cooley dan Meg LeFauve berhasil memberikan sebuah perjalanan emosi yang luar biasa. Mengenalkan karakter Joy dan antitesisnya yaitu Sadness sebagai dua emosi utama yang mendominasi kehidupan manusia. Joy dan Sadness adalah dua emosi yang berlawanan hanya saja emosi tersebut terlihat bias. Lihat saja, bagaimana Joy yang memiliki warna kuning masih memiliki atribut berwarna biru di rambutnya yang seharusnya warna tersebut mewakili karakter Sadness.

Pete Docter dan kawan-kawannya pun menyelipkan berbagai macam metafora menyenangkan lewat dialog ataupun pengadeganan di dalam film Inside Out ini. Akan ada banyak petualangan seru yang dialami oleh Joy dan Sadness tetapi tak hanya sekedar seru. Tetapi, memiliki sebuah nilai lain yang bisa ditelaah setelahnya. Terlepas dari itu, Inside Out pun bisa menjadi sebuah media bagi orang tua dalam menghadapi anaknya yang sedang menjalani perubahan dalam fase hidupnya. 

Hal yang dialami oleh Riley jelas akan terasa sangat relevan dengan para penonton yang pernah mengalami hal itu. Ikatan emosi yang dialami penonton dengan film Inside Out pun akan menjadi-jadi. Jika, Toy Story 3 berhasil membuat mata basah di akhir filmnya, maka Inside Out pun juga memiliki potensi tear-jerker yang sama. Pete Docter berhasil mengarahkan emosi di dalam filmnya begitu kuat. Bukan hanya di akhir, Inside Out menyebar momen-momen tear-jerker itu dengan porsi seimbang di sepanjang 94 menit durasinya.

Pun jelas, jangan lupakan scoring yang digarap begitu indah oleh Michael Giacchino. Inside Out jelas memiliki salah satu scoring indah yang tak bisa dilupakan begitu cepat oleh penontonnya. Dentingan piano indah yang berhasil membuat semua adegan di Inside Out memiliki nyawa yang luar biasa. Dengan scoring ini pun, segala pesan emosional yang disampaikan oleh Pete Docter di dalam filmnya pun berhasil tersampaikan kepada penontonnya. 

Maka tak salah, jika Inside Out akan merebut hati para juri Academy Awards lagi di tahun depan. Atau bahkan, mungkin saja Inside Out bisa menjadi kambing hitam untuk menjadi nominasi-nominasi lainnya bersaing dengan film-film kontender Academy Awards lainnya. Bisa lewat Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, dan juga Best Original Score. Meskipun hanya sebagai nominator, setidaknya Inside Out bisa bersaing di nominasi-nominasi tersebut.

Dengan performa luar biasa yang dihasilkan oleh Pete Docter lewat Inside Out, jelas akan membuat para penggemar dan kritikus kembali memercayai Pixar sebagai salah satu kontender berat dalam menggarap film-film animasi. Inside Out jelas tak hanya menceritakan emosi-emosi yang ada di dalam kepala Riley, tetapi juga menjadi sebuah film animasi yang akan membuat penontonnya merasakan emosi yang ada di dalam kepala mereka juga. Definitely be the one of the best animated movie ever made by Pixar ?or maybe in this world.

PS : Dont be late, there will be short animation movie titled ?Lava? and it will cheer you up.

 

Pixar?s INSIDE OUT Pulls Every Heartstring There Is

Now playing at a multiplex near you:

INSIDE OUT 
(Dirs. Pete Docter & Ronaldo Del Carmen, 2015)

Pixar?s entry into this year?s summer event movie sweepstakes is one of the trusty animation studios? most purely pleasurable productions.

Its strengths are many: it?s not another sequel, it has an incredibly solid comic cast headed by Amy Poehler, it?s a dazzling display of colorful concepts, it has the right amount of light, the right amount of darkness, it?s hilarious, it?s heartfelt, and it has a much better female-centric scenario than BRAVE.

Most of INSIDE OUT takes place inside the psyche of an 11-year old girl named Riley, voiced by Kaitlyn Dais. We learn right off the bat that there are five emotions behind the control panel of Riley?s mind: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear, which are respectively personified by Poehler, Phyllis Smith (best known as Phyllis from The Office), Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling (another Office alumni), and Bill Hader (Poehler?s former SNL co-star).

When Riley and her parents (voiced by Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan) move from Minnesota to San Francisco, Sadness starts to affect her core memories (represented by glowing orbs which are gathered on shelves in a vast long-term storage library). These core memories power personality islands ? i.e. essential components of Riley?s identity ? with names like Friendship Island, Hockey Island, Goofball Island, and Honesty Island, which are connected to the central control room via thin bridges.

Joy tries to stop a sad core memory of Riley crying in front of her class on the first day at her new school from becoming part of her being, but ends up getting sucked with Sadness, and other core memories, through a vacuum tube and deposited into the far reaches of the ever-growing more despondent girl?s mind.

So Joy and Sadness have to make their way back to headquarters, which is faltering due to Anger, Disgust, and Fear being in charge. Joy and Sadness journey through realms such as the Center for Abstract Thinking, Imagination Land, and Dream Production, but most significantly they encounter Riley?s long forgotten imaginary friend, Bing Bong, adorably voiced by Richard Kind.

Bing Bong, a hot pink hybrid of elephant, cat, and dolphin outfitted with a porkpie hat and bowtie, who cries hard candy, is eager to help the stranded emotions get back by way of the Train of Thought though Riley?s subconscious. Meanwhile, the identity islands are collapsing, and Anger plants the idea to have Riley run away back to Minnesota in a misguided attempt to fix things.

Poehler brings a can-do gusto to her lead role of Joy that would make her Parks and Recreation character Leslie Knope proud, while Smith?s Sadness gets to do more than just amusingly mope through ? her developmental arc is key. The remaining emotions have their funny moments, especially Black?s red hot Anger, whose concern for learning curse words is a great running gag. I wouldn?t have minded more of Kaling and Hader?s takes on Disgust and Fear, but maybe less really is more.

As for the outside of Riley, Lane and MacLachlan provide a grounded parental presence ? we get to see inside their heads in one of the film?s funniest scenes ? that we see in flashes as being as stressed in adjusting to the move as their daughter. Dias does a good job as the everygirl Riley, wonderfully capturing the awkwardness, confusion, and pain that any kid and adult can relate to.

INSIDE OUT is on par with the best of Pixar. It maybe doesn?t scale the heights of Docter?s previous masterpiece UP, but that it gets so close is reason to rejoice. Its screenplay, courtesy of Docter, Josh Cooley, and Meg LeFauve, definitely re-establishes the studio's high standards of humor, invention, and emotional pull that had gotten a little misplaced in one too many sequels (that one being CARS 2).

As usual, the obligatory 3D presentation didn?t do much for me, but I was glad that I had the glasses on throughout as they helped to hide how much I kept tearing up. Consider every heartstring pulled.

More later...

Pixar?s INSIDE OUT Pulls Every Heartstring There Is

Now playing at a multiplex near you:

INSIDE OUT 
(Dirs. Pete Docter & Ronaldo Del Carmen, 2015)

Pixar?s entry into this year?s summer event movie sweepstakes is one of the trusty animation studios? most purely pleasurable productions.

Its strengths are many: it?s not another sequel, it has an incredibly solid comic cast headed by Amy Poehler, it?s a dazzling display of colorful concepts, it has the right amount of light, the right amount of darkness, it?s hilarious, it?s heartfelt, and it has a much better female-centric scenario than BRAVE.

Most of INSIDE OUT takes place inside the psyche of an 11-year old girl named Riley, voiced by Kaitlyn Dais. We learn right off the bat that there are five emotions behind the control panel of Riley?s mind: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear, which are respectively personified by Poehler, Phyllis Smith (best known as Phyllis from The Office), Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling (another Office alumni), and Bill Hader (Poehler?s former SNL co-star).

When Riley and her parents (voiced by Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan) move from Minnesota to San Francisco, Sadness starts to affect her core memories (represented by glowing orbs which are gathered on shelves in a vast long-term storage library). These core memories power personality islands ? i.e. essential components of Riley?s identity ? with names like Friendship Island, Hockey Island, Goofball Island, and Honesty Island, which are connected to the central control room via thin bridges.

Joy tries to stop a sad core memory of Riley crying in front of her class on the first day at her new school from becoming part of her being, but ends up getting sucked with Sadness, and other core memories, through a vacuum tube and deposited into the far reaches of the ever-growing more despondent girl?s mind.

So Joy and Sadness have to make their way back to headquarters, which is faltering due to Anger, Disgust, and Fear being in charge. Joy and Sadness journey through realms such as the Center for Abstract Thinking, Imagination Land, and Dream Production, but most significantly they encounter Riley?s long forgotten imaginary friend, Bing Bong, adorably voiced by Richard Kind.

Bing Bong, a hot pink hybrid of elephant, cat, and dolphin outfitted with a porkpie hat and bowtie, who cries hard candy, is eager to help the stranded emotions get back by way of the Train of Thought though Riley?s subconscious. Meanwhile, the identity islands are collapsing, and Anger plants the idea to have Riley run away back to Minnesota in a misguided attempt to fix things.

Poehler brings a can-do gusto to her lead role of Joy that would make her Parks and Recreation character Leslie Knope proud, while Smith?s Sadness gets to do more than just amusingly mope through ? her developmental arc is key. The remaining emotions have their funny moments, especially Black?s red hot Anger, whose concern for learning curse words is a great running gag. I wouldn?t have minded more of Kaling and Hader?s takes on Disgust and Fear, but maybe less really is more.

As for the outside of Riley, Lane and MacLachlan provide a grounded parental presence ? we get to see inside their heads in one of the film?s funniest scenes ? that we see in flashes as being as stressed in adjusting to the move as their daughter. Dias does a good job as the everygirl Riley, wonderfully capturing the awkwardness, confusion, and pain that any kid and adult can relate to.

INSIDE OUT is on par with the best of Pixar. It maybe doesn?t scale the heights of Docter?s previous masterpiece UP, but that it gets so close is reason to rejoice. Its screenplay, courtesy of Docter, Josh Cooley, and Meg LeFauve, definitely re-establishes the studio's high standards of humor, invention, and emotional pull that had gotten a little misplaced in one too many sequels (that one being CARS 2).

As usual, the obligatory 3D presentation didn?t do much for me, but I was glad that I had the glasses on throughout as they helped to hide how much I kept tearing up. Consider every heartstring pulled.

More later...

Envy

***DISCLAIMER*** The following review is entirely my opinion. If you comment (which I encourage you to do) be respectful. If you don't agree with my opinion, that's fine. To each their own. These reviews are not meant to be statements of facts or endorsements, I am just sharing my opinions and my perspective when watching the film and is not meant to reflect how these films should be viewed. Finally, the reviews are given on a scale of 0-5. 0, of course, being unwatchable. 1, being terrible. 2, being not great. 3, being okay. 4, being great and 5, being epic! And if you enjoy these reviews feel free to share them and follow the blog or follow me on Twitter (@RevRonster) for links to my reviews and the occasional live-Tweet session of the movie I'm watching! My envy comes from the fact that people were doing more important and entertaining things while I watched this one.

Envy ? 1 out of 5

Despite my fondness of Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Christopher Walken (true story, I once performed a rendition of Shakespeare?s play that shall not be named doing an impression of Walken the entire time?it was as horrible as it sounds) but, even with this fact of enjoyment over these actors, I never jumped at the opportunity to watch Envy. In fact, I heard such horrible things about it that I put it on my Netflix queue to watch later. I never jumped at the opportunity to view it and every time it came up for delivery, I pushed it back towards the bottom of my queue. However, this last weekend, I gave in and watched it and, I realized, I could have waited infinitely longer.

They are in a car together and there wasn't a "sing along to the radio" scene?
ROBBED!!!

Tim Dingman (Ben Stiller) and Nick Vanderpark (Jack Black) are stuck in a job that feels like it is going nowhere. Nick is a dreamer and is always trying to come up with the next big thing but Tim lectures him that he just needs to focus and do the best with where he?s at. One day, Nick comes up with an idea call the "Vapoorizer," an invention that, when sprayed on dog droppings, will make said feces simply disappear and eliminate the need to pick up dog waste all together. After Nick gets the product made, he becomes a millionaire and Tim is left to his soul-crushing job alone and must look in on the fabulous world of his best friend?and realize that Nick gave him an opportunity to get in on the ground floor but passed on it. Soon, Tim?s jealousy gets the better of him and he loses his job, sees his family ready to leave him, and finds himself being pushed towards revenge by a man who calls himself the J-Man (Christopher Walken).

This is an actual shot from the film...it's not a metaphor, I swear.

I had to watch Zoolander after watching this to remind
me why I am a fan of Ben Stiller.

Envy was pretty much panned entirely by critics and audiences when it came out and was so bad that it was going to be destined to only be released directly on video but was saved in the last minute and sent to theaters for nothing else than to try and make some of the money back. I remember thinking that with Stiller, Black, and Walken in the film, how could it really be that bad? However, the negative reviews still kept me from this film for an entire decade?shit, Stiller and Black actually publically apologized for how bad this film was. Granted, I didn?t think this film was absolutely atrocious but, I have to agree, this movie isn?t good.

Okay, so the movie is literally beating a dead horse...

The main problem with this film is it is just not funny. Yes, comedy is subjective and what one person finds hilarious, another may find mind-numbing, stupid, or even offensive. However, I just couldn?t laugh at this film. Once, at one point with Walken, I gave a small chuckle but the rest of the film was just me sitting in silence. Envy wants to be a dark comedy and have you find humor is locations that normally aren?t a breeding ground for comedy?for example, a major plot point involves Tim?s jealousy releasing itself in the form of drinking and, in his drunken stupor, he kills Nick?s prize horse. Dark comedies are already an acquired taste but this film just couldn?t tune in its humor to make these darker moments work. These scenes come off like first drafts of jokes and gags without any consideration of refining them. A majority of the time, scenes come off looking like someone flailing about desperately to try and get a pity laugh and it makes too much of the film sad and kinda embarrassing.

I still love you even though you were in this film, Walken.

Well, if Walken and Stiller form a band, I already have
their first album cover ready.

Finally, the cast really just looked like they didn?t give a shit. Black and Walken seem to be given their best with what little comedy the script has in it but Stiller just looks like he doesn?t care. I found this odd because Stiller can play the victim quite well but here, it just looked like he didn?t try. Additionally, the wives of Tim and Nick feel a tad superfluous due to their limited appearances in the film (there?s even a side-story that features Nick?s wife Debbie?played by the talented Amy Poehler?running for office but nothing ever really concrete or interesting results from it). Tim?s wife is played by Rachel Weisz but with the lack of any intrigue the character has, having the talented Weisz play the role felt ultimately pointless.  Most of the time she comes off like background decoration of part of the set.

In reality, Tim's wife could have been played by a person with a bag on their
head and you never would have noticed.  That's how little they do with her
in the story.

Pointless also describes the story and plot as the film feels like it is just meandering around an outline rather than an actual story or script. I already mentioned how Poehler?s character has a side-story that just sorta fizzles out with no real fanfare but the whole movie comes off this way. The basics of what is happening is there and you get that Tim is jealous but the movie never really makes you feel like you are going through Tim?s raging and depressing jealousy. It just feels like you are seeing certain segments of this journey and any real development the story needs for the characters is just tossed to the side and forgotten about.

Well, if it's being sold on TV...I'll take 15!

Envy could have easily been a decent dark comedy about one man?s jealously over his friend?s success but the film feels like it has no idea how comedy works, doesn?t really go into any satisfying details of its story and plot, and the cast barely appears to have any interest. I pushed this one off for 10 years but I could have easily pushed it off another decade or just never bothered to watch it at all.