Inside Out – a great film for adults (and some kids, I guess)

Normally, when I take my ten-year-old daughter to the cinema to see a ‘children’s’ movie, I normally just sit there praying for it to end as it’s just a load of colourful sentimental nonsense designed to fill an hour and a half’s time.  My daughter, and most of those who are around her age, all sit there laughing and enjoying the film.  I just want to go home.  This is because – naturally – children’s movies are aimed at children (no surprise there then!) and, as an adult I have to accept that and just go along with it.  That was until I saw ‘Inside Out.’

Here the film seems to be written the other way round.  Yes, I loved it.  I had a great time during the screening.  And, although there were plenty of colourful characters for my daughter to watch, I didn’t really think that she (or 90% of the under elevens in the audience) really appreciated it.

We’re shown that, right from birth, we have little characters in our heads controlling different areas of our personality – a happy little character for ‘joy,’ a depressed little character for ‘sadness’ and so on.  These quirky little creatures control and dictate our actions and therefore life throughout our lives.  The little characters we meet here reside inside a little girl called Riley’s head.  And, when she moves house and her life gets turned upside down, the little people inside her mind go on an adventure throughout her body – in particular various aspects of her mind.

And this is where things get a little complicated.  Well... not for me, but then I’m an adult.  However, some – in fact quite a lot – of the gags start to fall flat on the children’s ears when the characters on screen walk into the ‘subconscious’ and you’re treated to the ‘horrors’ which reside buried deep in all our minds.  And this is how it went on.  More and more of the story seemed to be designed for those with a least a better understanding of the way our minds work that your average ‘Pixar-watching’ child.

I’ve read other reviews and I see that a lot of kids did actually enjoy this film.  However, I just wonder on what level they did?  My daughter loved it, but the characters were pretty and ‘good’ was easily distinguishable from ‘bad.’

Personally, I loved Inside Out and would happily watch it again.  I thought it was clever and different.  I also couldn’t help but think I was watching some sort of Christopher Nolan film like ‘Inception.’ Adults will love it.  Kids should love it.  Just be prepared to explain some metaphysical aspects of a Disney film during the drive home from the cinema!

8/10 The Force is definitely strong with this one