Inside Out

Circumstances behind seeing this movie
I was very excited to see the latest Pixar film, because I generally love everything they've done. My husband and I went to see it together at Studio Movie Grill, where we watched our movie with macaroni and cheese, brownies, and pretzel bites at 2 for $25. I find the food somewhat distracting when we don't get to finish it during the previews, but it's also good to have a dinner and movie experience.
The movie
The movie starts being narrated by one of the characters inside Riley's head, Joy. Joy has her work cut out for her because all of the other emotions in the head are negative: Anger, Disgust, Fear, and Sadness. We learn throughout the movie that other characters aren't run by Joy. The mother's central emotion is Sadness, and the father's is Anger. To begin, Joy dominates in Riley's brain, but she's 11 years old, and that means puberty is coming. To simulate this, Joy and Sadness get lost in Riley's long term memory, and have an adventure trying to get back to Headquarters before it is too late.
Overall, I thought this movie was really cute. It serves as a coming of age story that is not over done, and can help children understand what is happening to them when everything goes from happy to mixed emotions. We can see, for example, that hockey goes from being just a pleasant experience to one Anger helps control in order to get aggressive with the puck. We also come to understand the usefulness of some of the unpleasant emotions. Sadness gets Riley help when she needs it. Fear keeps her safe. Anger gives her aggression. Disgust also keeps her safe, and helps her to find friends.
I admit I teared up a few times during the movie, especially at the death of the imaginary friend. This came from really caring about Riley, and all of the characters inside her head. I knew that something had to happen to the imaginary friend as soon as they found him, because 11 years old is too old for an imaginary friend and Joy promised to make Riley remember him when they got back to Headquarters. I was still surprised how much I cared.
My favorite scene was the one where they sent a song to get stuck in Riley's head. Anger's reaction to seeing this memory for the 3rd time was hilarious, and they kept playing with it for the remainder of the movie, including the end credits scene, which was also funny for its explanation of cats.
I give the movie an A-.