Inside Out Movie Poster Image

Inside Out

age 6+
(i)

 

Beautiful, original story about handling big feelings.
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  • Review Date: June 19, 2015
  • Rated: PG
  • Genre: Family and Kids
  • Release Year: 2015
  • Running Time: 102 minutes

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What parents need to know

Educational value

Not at all biologically accurate in terms of how memory and emotions work, but kids will learn a bit about the different parts of the memory/mind (subconscious, long-term memory, abstract thought, etc.), as well as important lessons about empathy and teamwork.

Positive messages

We all have many emotions, and they're all an essential part of life. You can't fully appreciate joy without knowing sadness. Kids and parents should talk honestly and openly to each other about how they're feeling, even when it's hard. Family and friendship help make us who we are. Don't try to be something you're not; love and accept who you are. Teamwork and imagination can solve the most difficult problems. Running away doesn't solve anything.

Positive role models

Joy is determined, positive, helpful, and focused. She puts Riley's happiness above all else, sometimes to the point of being too controlling -- but she learns to appreciate others' roles. Sadness is quick to put herself down (partly because of how Joy treats her), but she eventually sees that she matters, too. Riley tries hard to please her parents and starts out eager and optimistic; when she later feels angry and lonely, she makes some poor decisions (spoiler alert: she decides to run away, "borrowing" her mom's credit card to do so), but she realizes her mistakes.

Violence & scariness

Many of Riley's fears are mentioned/shown, including a dead mouse, earthquakes, and an enormous clown. Some tension/peril when Joy and Sadness are sucked into the memory core and journey back to HQ (bridges/islands crumble, a train tumbles over a precipice, characters fall deep down into Riley's memory dump, the subconscious is dark and scary, etc.). Riley cries in class. Riley's parents bicker due to stress; Riley yells at them. Anger's head bursts into flames when he's really upset. Spoiler alert: A key character ceases to exist; he doesn't die so much as fade away, but it's clear he's permanently gone. Kids may be upset when it seems Riley is running away.

Sexy stuff

Riley's mom recalls a suave, handsome former boyfriend. Riley's mind includes an imaginary boyfriend who says he'd die for her.

Language

Infrequent use of insult words like "shut up," "moron," "barf," and "dumb." Anger makes references to knowing a curse word; there's one bleeped moment where it's implied he finally said it.

Consumerism

No actual products within the film, but tons of off-line marketing/licensing tie-ins, from books and apps to a wide variety of toys, clothes, home decor, and much more.

Drinking, drugs, & smoking
Not applicable

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Inside Out is an outstandingly original, heartfelt story from Pixar about growing up and learning to handle your biggest emotions. Told primarily from the perspective of the feelings inside 11-year-old Riley's mind (brought to life by the voices of Amy Poehler, Mindy Kaling, Bill Hader, and more), the plot has many moments of peril/tension -- including bridges/islands crumbling, a train tumbling over a precipice, and characters falling into a deep, dark pit. (Spoiler alert: One key character also permanently fades from existence; that and scenes in which it seems Riley is "borrowing" her mom's credit card and running away are definitely upsetting.) Some of Riley's fears are also on display, including a giant, scary clown. Parents are likely to get hit hardest by the film's heart-tugging moments (bring tissues!), but anyone with empathy will feel for Riley as she experiences life's ups and downs. Ultimately, Inside Out has important messages about needing to feel -- and express -- all of your emotions, whether happy or sad. Although most of the content is appropriate for elementary schoolers and up, younger kids may need a bit more explanation about what's going on, since there are references to abstract thought and the subconscious, and it can be a little confusing when other characters' emotions are shown.

What's the story?

When baby Riley is born to her loving parents, so is her first emotion -- Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler), who's soon joined by Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader), and Disgust (Mindy Kaling). The quintet live and work in Headquarters (aka HQ), the part of Riley's brain that experiences feelings and makes memories. With Joy as their leader, the group helps their girl through toddlerhood (ick, broccoli!) and childhood (hooray, a hockey goal!) -- but everything changes when 11-year-old Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) and her parents (Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan) move from Minnesota to San Francisco after her dad gets a new job. As Riley tries to cope with a new house, a new school, and her parents' increased stress, things get out of control back at HQ: Sadness and Joy tussle over Riley's core memories and end up getting sucked into long-term storage. Can they make it back to HQ in time to help Riley get back in touch with all of her feelings?

Is it any good?

QUALITY

Creative, clever, heartfelt, and beautifully animated, INSIDE OUT is destined to join the ranks of Pixar's best movies -- the ones that have dazzled us with something we've truly never seen before: Toy Story, Finding Nemo, WALL-E, Up. Not only is Inside Out an engaging, endlessly inventive adventure with strong themes of friendship and acceptance, but it has real potential to help kids and parents navigate the powerful emotions that come with growing up. Kids who might not be able to put their increasingly complex feelings into words could use Riley's experiences for context (for instance, Riley doesn't necessarily intend to be sarcastic to her parents ... that's just what happens when Anger and Disgust are left in charge and can't quite figure out how Joy manages to make Riley's words come out nicely). And parents will be reminded that asking kids to put on a happy face when they don't really feel it can lead to unintended pressure and worry. (Seriously, bring tissues.)

All of that isn't meant to suggest that Inside Out is overly serious or a downer. Absolutely not. It's filled with moments of hilarity and unbridled imagination (you'll have a new appreciation for how "earworms" get stuck in your head...), as well as warm nostalgia for childhood innocence and inventiveness. The emotions are all perfectly cast; Joy's relentless optimism and can-do spirit make her a kindred spirit to Poehler's beloved Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation, and Smith (who played Phyllis in the U.S. version of The Office) is a good counterpoint as Sadness. Inside Out is just as much about Joy's journey as it is Riley's; it isn't until Joy truly understands that the other emotions have important roles to play, too, that she becomes the leader that all of them -- Riley included -- really need. As Joy learns, happiness is all the more meaningful when you've also experienced defeat, loss, or loneliness; that truth is a large part of what makes Pixar's best movies so powerful.

Families can talk about...

  • Families can talk about why it's hard for Riley to tell her parents how she's feeling. Is it OK for them to ask her to be their "happy girl"? How does that make her feel when she's not in a particularly joyful state of mind? Have you ever felt like you had to feel a certain way to please someone else? Is that fair?

  • What does it mean to have "mixed emotions" about something? How do all of our different feelings relate to each other? Can you have joy without sadness? Why is it important to feel a range of emotions?

  • Some of the movie's scenes are sad and scary. Is it OK for a kids' movie to not be cheerful and silly all the time? How much scary stuff can young kids handle?

  • What problem does Riley think running away will fix? Why is she wrong? What could have happened to her if she'd gone through with her plan? Parents, talk to your kids about why Riley's idea -- and how she went about trying to accomplish it -- is not an example to follow.

  • What do you think your own emotions might look and talk like? What about those of your friends and family members? Ask kids to draw what they think might be going on inside their own head.

Movie details

Theatrical release date:June 19, 2015
DVD release date:November 3, 2015
Cast:Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Richard Kind
Director:Pete Docter
Studio:Pixar Animation Studios
Genre:Family and Kids
Topics:Adventures, Friendship, Great girl role models
Character strengths:Communication, Compassion, Empathy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-control, Teamwork
Run time:102 minutes
MPAA rating:PG
MPAA explanation:mild thematic elements and some action
Awards/Honors:Academy Award, Common Sense Seal, Golden Globe

This review of Inside Out was written by

Betsy Bozdech
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are conducted by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

Quality

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  • Very Good: Engaging; good learning approach.
  • Good: Pretty engaging; good learning approach.
  • Fair: Somewhat engaging; OK learning approach.
  • Not for Learning: Not recommended for learning.
  • Not for Kids: Not age-appropriate for kids; not recommended for learning.

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Parent of a 9 year old Written byMamawolf83 June 19, 2015
age 7+

Great to watch WITH your kids

*SPOILER* Please be aware I'm not trying to ruin the movie, just pointing out important facts to keep in mind as a parent. This film captures in many ways the joys and tragedy of growing up. At the start of the film we are introduced to Riley, a 11 year old girl with a pair of loving parents and a strong list of positive character traits. Riley is honest, loves her family and is happy go luck hockey player. Shorty after Riley was born we meet Riley's emotions, who lead us through the opening of the film from Riley's birth to her family uprooting from her childhood home in Minnesota to move to San Francisco California when Riley is 11. After this point we see Riley's emotion of Joy constantly trying to keep Riley happy, but after a sad "Core Memory" is created due to a tearful moment at Riley's new school; caused my Riley's sadness emotion. Joy and Sadness are pulled accidentally from Riley's emotional control center and have to find their way back with the core memories before Riley endangers herself due to the lack of Joy running her emotions. When I first started watching this movie I thought it was going to be all about learning to be happy in tough time. However what I got was a lot deeper than that. Joy has to come to the realization that it's important to show that you are sad sometimes. Sadness is a important part of growing and without sad moments we can not truly grow and learn. I think the moment that hit the hardest for me was when Riley's imaginary friend Bing Bong, fades away in the memory dump when he realizes that Riley needs to grow up and make new memories with real friends. This was a incredibly mature topic but a important one never the less. Tho this film touches on key topics to discuss with your kids, there are two points in the film that were upsetting for me as a mother. Number one: When Joy, Sadness and the core memories go missing, Disgust, Anger and Fear have to take over running Riley's emotions. However being unsuited for the task of being Riley's lead emotion (That's Joy's job) several mishaps occur including: Riley yelling at her parents, Riley dumping her best friend, Riley deciding to run away from home and even stealing her moms credit card. These are all really bad emotional decisions but the worst really are her stealing and running away. While yelling at her parents and dumping her friend are not good decision, these are things kids do sometimes and they learn from it more often then not. However Riley running away and stealing from her mother are both example of very bad decisions that could in danger Riley in ways she may not be able to recover from. Anything could have gone wrong when Riley ran off, this as a mother upset me greatly. The film made it look very easy to do and did not even show the dangers Riley could have gotten herself into. Anything from her being abducted to her life being ended could have occurred but this topic is not even mentions or alluded to. We just see Riley walk down dark streets alone at night and walk back to her house after Sadness helps her change her mind. This to me is a very foolish decision on that part of the film makers. Running away never solves anything, especially in this case. I got very worried that kids may not realize how dangerous what Riley did truly is, so I decided when my daughter goes to see the movie and would later explain the dangers of running away to her, so she could understand that Riley's actions were not as easy to fix as they show in the film. Number two: When Riley returns from running away we never see Riley's parents correcting her for such a dangerous behavior. This to me is just flat out bad parenting. I understand that the film can only be so long, but they could have at lest had her parents say something along the lines of "Do you know how dangerous what you did was?" or "Young lady do ever do that again, you could have been hurt." Just one single line of correction would have given the hint that the parents were acting like real parents and have given at least a hint to how dangerous what Riley did truly was. Overall this film was very good, it have great teaching topics for everything ranging from coping with a move, to expressing how you feel even if it maybe sad. I don't recommend this as a movie for solo kid watching as it does deal with very heavy subject matter, but if you are looking for a film to open discussions with your kids about their feelings, then this is a great film to show them.
What other families should know
Great messages
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Adult Written byJessicasilver June 20, 2015
age 11+

I have reservations which surprised me for Pixar

*spoiler alert* in a scene where the main character decides to run away she goes on the Internet to purchase a train ticket. She sees she needs a credit card to do this takes her mother's from her purse. Younger children or kid's with social/emotional delays may see they can borrow mommy's card to get things they want on the computer. For older children or those with impulsivity issues it is a blueprint for how to runaway. Furthermore, Riley is then seen at a bus station in San Francisco at night which is not portrayed as a necessarily scary event for a 12year old nor does anyone seem particularly alarmed at the site of this unaccompanied minor at the bus station. It portrays running away as if it is not scary and this not really a big deal. I feel this was very irresponsible on the part of Pixar and honestly I was shocked. Parents always should talk with their children after exposure to media but one does not necessarily expect to have to have this level of conversation after a movie meant for young children. I don't feel this was well thought out.
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Written byAnonymous June 11, 2015
age 6+

Heartwarming family adventure is about emotions

My rating:G
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