Review of Inside Out

The race for this year's Oscar of Best Animated Feature Film is over. Pixar has won the award many times before with films like Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, WALL-E and several others; they are going to get another one this year with Inside Out.

Inside Out is set in the mind of 11 year old, Riley Andersen (Kaitlyn Dias). Five emotions, Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), and Disgust (Mindy Kaling), lead Riley through life as they influence Riley's actions and memories. Joy is the chief and this cause Riley to be a bubbly happy young girl.

Things change when Riley's parents (Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan) moved to San Francisco and this caused changes in Riley's personality. As Joy tries to maintain Riley's bubbly outlook, Sadness began to grow more powerful, changing Riley's outlook in life.

Now growing up can be a bumpy road and in Inside Out, we have one of the best film ever made showing the joy and sadness of growing pains. As Riley and her emotions struggle to adjust to a new life in San Francisco, viewers get a front row seat on the turmoil that goes on inside her mind.

This film is without question close to the heart of director Pete Docter who has publicly said that he too faced problems when his family relocated to Denmark when he was young. The experience must have been a great help to the director because the heart of this film shines brightly. The story may be simple but it was touching as hell with adults more than likely to shed a tear or two as the film progresses.

I loved the way the film didn't try to dumb things down. Inside Out is smart and pull no punches as it shows the innocence that is lost as one grows up. What's more, the film wasn't shy about it's message that even "bad" emotions like anger and sadness are needed for a child to grow up to be a well-adjusted person. Now that's takes courage, especially for a animated movie.

Yes, I will admit that the kids may have some problem understanding this film. The film also takes a little while to get going but that's about it. Outside those minor details, the rest of the film is just pure gold.

Hell, forget about the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film. Inside Out is bold, sweet, funny, sad, and heartbreaking. Even the accompany short animated film, titled Lava, was great. Forget about the Animated Oscar, this film deserves at least a nomination for Best Picture. It is that good!