This week, our family went to see Inside Out, Disney Pixar’s new adventure. As avid Pixar fans (like most American families), we were excited to see the latest creation from the studio. Two of my girls said this was their favorite Pixar film yet. It is definitely near the top for me. Wow! What a colorful, fun, and thought-provoking adventure!
The film features the emotions inside the mind of 11-year-old Riley. Riley is a young girl who moves from Minnesota, where she loves playing ice hockey, to a new culture and home in San Francisco, California. Like most tweens, such a huge move - leaving friends, school, and her team behind - is a huge adjustment for Riley and the adjustment throws her emotions for a loop. Her loving parents, usually adept at navigating their relationship with Riley, find themselves distracted and overwhelmed with their own adjustments and stresses. The experience takes Riley on an emotional roller coaster and Pixar takes us on the ride from a view inside the mind, and emotions, of an 11-year-old girl.
The film is extremely well done and thought-provoking as the emotions: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger, work together to help Riley adjust. Along the way, they discover the importance of all five emotions, and their role in communicating with others as we navigate not only our own feelings, but our interactions with others. Joy is the leader of the group, ever perky and optimistic she strives to find the silver lining in everything. She discourages Sadness from ever "touching Riley's memories," measuring a successful day by the number of joyful memories outweighing all others. Along the way, they discover that Sadness has an important part to play too - and without Sadness - things can get to be dangerously bad for a girl suppressing her feelings and searching to find good feelings again.
What Parents Need to Know: The film is a great family-friendly film and the themes will open up a lot of great dinner table conversation about our feelings and how to process them. As a mom, I was moved throughout the film as the feelings tried to overcome challenges to rescue Riley's memories and her personality for fear it would be squelched forever. There are a few sad scenes - a teddy bear is torn (this was very sad for my bear-loving 5 year old), there are many poignant moments and plot turners with the parents, and there is much laughter and joy. Plan to talk about feelings as a family after watching the film - this is a great conversation starting film to open a dialogue of trust.
Overall: Mom 9/10 stars. Dad 9/10 stars. 9 year old 10/10 stars. 7 year old 10/10 stars. 5 year old 5/10 stars (could not forgive the torn teddy bear scene). 3 year old - all smiles. I still love Ratatouille as my #1 favorite Pixar film, and the Toy Story films are beloved classics here, but this one deserves a seat among the best Pixar films ever and it's near the top for our family.
Now, where did we watch Inside Out? Let me tell you about the Theater:
Our family enjoyed experiencing Inside Out at AMC Barrywoods (8101 Roanridge Rd., KCMO). The theater is one of the first Dolby Cinemas at AMC Prime and Inside Out is one of the first films shown in the new format. What exactly does that mean? It means that the theater "combines Dolby Atmos, the highest quality immersive sound system, with the dazzling, colorful images of Dolby Vision. The Dolby Cinema at AMC Prime experience also includes guest-favorite elements like comfortable power recliners with seat transducers that vibrate in tandem with action on screen.Dolby Vision uses cutting-edge laser projectors to produce images with brighter brights, deeper darks and many more shades of color than conventional movie technology can reproduce."
What did we think of the experience? It was terrific. Inside Out is a vibrant and colorful movie full of bright movement and emotion - enjoying it with top picture quality and sound was terrific - my children noticed the vibration right away during the previews and commented that it was exciting. The sound comes from all around - including overhead - creating a truly immersive experience. The theater is comfortable and large and the picture quality was top notch. We love the AMC experience and take advantage of AMC Stubs earning points for movies and concessions. Our family looks forward to enjoying more family-friendly films at Dolby Cinemas at AMC Prime.