Film Review

Inside Out 2 (2024) — an emotional, if familiar family flick

Riley is now a teenager, experiencing new emotions…

In 2015, Pixar released its 15th film, marking a welcome return to original ideas after sequels and prequels dominated three of their preceding four releases. Having imbued toys and cars with emotions, they tackled their most quintessentially Pixar concept yet: what if emotions themselves had emotions? This film, Inside Out, proved a resounding success, grossing $858M worldwide and scooping the ‘Best Animated Feature Film’ award at the 2016 Academy Awards, alongside a nomination for ‘Best Original Screenplay’. This charming tale follows an 11-year-old girl, Riley (Kaitlyn Dias), whose life is uprooted when her family relocates from Minnesota to San Francisco. Forced to leave behind everything familiar, Riley grapples with her emotions as they work overtime to navigate this challenging transition.

Following modest critical and financial success in recent releases (largely due to Pixar films being released directly to Disney+), Pixar is aiming to regain its footing by focusing on established franchises, according to…