Pixar has finally broken out of its mould. Their newest animation 'Inside Out' is unique in many ways. This well constructed tale is set inside the ind of a 11-year-old girl named Riley.
Growing up can be a bumpy road. When the little Riley is born and begins to explore the world her brain spawns new emotions. First comes Joy when she first sets eyes on her doting parents. Then Sadness arrives along with others like Fear, Anger and Disgust join Joy in the control room. At 11 years Joy is the dominant force in Riley's mind. However tings change when Riley's parents leave her childhood town Minnesota to settle down in San Francisco.
The first shock comes when Riley lays eyes on her new home, a narrow and shabby fixer-upper. Then comes the terror of being the new kid in school and having to make a good first impression. Riley's troubles begin when Sadness begins to take over the control room. With just a touch Sadness tinges Riley's formerly happy memories with pain. Taken aback by her new found powers Sadness decides to explore her potential. Soon there is a battle over Sadness and Joy on who will take over Riley's sacred core memories. n the process, Joy, Sadness, and all of Riley's most pivotal remembrances are sucked out of the control room and into the expanse of Riley's brain.
Archived memories
From here 'Inside Out' takes us on a ride of Joy and Sadness' tour through Riley's brain on their way back to headquarters while Fear, Anger, and Disgust are left to play the primary motivators for Riley's behavior. Riley herself becomes despondent. She is not the happy little girl she use to be and even goes as far as to commit the childhood crime of running away from home.
The central crisis of 'Inside Out' centers around the fungibility of memory. Directors Pete Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen envision the human mind as a sort of ongoing board meeting, where five primary emotions engage in the immediate tasks of impulse-governing and crisis-management in front of a vast backdrop of core values and archived memories.
As in most animations family is an important factor in 'Inside Out'. It is not only Riley's parents who make her feel better during her crisis but the movie also sheds light that on and Sadness must work together to restore Riley to her natural charm. It also notes that Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust too can play greater roles in Riley's future by contributing to her core memories. This is signified in the finale frame of the movie when we see that Riley's core memories are not simply glowing in gold as before but are tinted with many other shades like red, green, purple and blue besides gold.
Traces of Pixar's previous work can be found in 'Inside Out' as well. You get mismatched pairings, a support team working to ensure a child's happiness and a journey to get home in this flick as well. However there is freshness in the movie. 'Inside Out' enables the makers to wild with their imagination. The wit and imagery is enthralling as Joy and Sadness travel through long term memory, abstract thought and dream production and hook up with Riley's long forgotten imaginary friend, Bing Bong. Yet the movie does not get lost in its fantasy. Though it takes the viewers through a riot of colour and vibrancy it stands firmly on its theme of taking the the duo to the control room to save the little girl from making a faux pas which will tint her life.
Storytelling powers
Kaitlyn Dias has given voice to Riley. Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Mindy Kaling, Lewis Black, Bill Hader, Kyle MacLachlan, Diane Lane, Richard Kind too do their bit in rendering their vocal talents to the movie.
Pixar has proven time and time again that they have an incredibly deep understanding of emotion. 'Inside Out' signifies their storytelling powers at its best. It has the exact same kind of old school Pixar magic that turned the company into the biggest modern name in animated feature films.
This is probably the pinnacle of Pixar's imaginative powers. Full of bold, original, funny, emotionally resonant ideas 'Inside Out' is the perfect movie to keep your kids entertained this season. Like previous Pixar movies, this movie too is playing in 3D.
Ruwini Jayawardana - www.dailynews.lk
