IMDb Top 250 Journey: Inside Out

Hello people! We're making steady progress through IMDb's Top 250 list. This happens to be our tenth review. Hurray!! Well, as you no doubt noticed, I finally saw Inside Out. Let's get this done! Oh yes, almost forgot: you can find it at spot #64 with an 8.4 score. Okay, we're doing this.

Immediate thoughts?

Smart. Evocative. IMAGINATIVE.

Go on...

It would seem Pixar(Toy Story, Up, Finding Nemo) has hit another home run here - Inside Out is a truly remarkable animated film. As per usual, for Pixar, it's brimming with ideas, and has the ability to reach out to more emotions than you remembered you had. I have no idea how they keep coming up with this stuff but I sure am glad they do.

Right from the onset you're introduced to the underlying concept behind Inisde Out, and it's pretty great. Assuming you haven't already seen the trailers, it serves as an instant hook, leaving you immediately wondering what they're gonna do with it. Well, rest assured, they do pretty great stuff with it.

This movie is just bursting with ideas. They made the fullest use of their already great concept and though I can't say without spoiling the movie, at almost every turn, they find a way to stretch the concept further, filling it out with details you did not even think about, but make sense when you do. This has a profound effect on the storyline, because you're consistently being surprised by what happens. It's all very impressive.

It goes without saying that this isn't movie for children, but one that adults as well can appreciate. The inventiveness alone is enough to keep you watching. And there's anger (one of the characters). He's just awesome - no two ways about that.  

However, it's not all rosy. I didn't particularly enjoy this movie as much as the other pixar ones. I felt like they got carried away with the coolness of their concept, and it was cool, but it felt distracting at times. Like the regular parts didn't fit quite well with the movie as a whole. Meaning, it doesn't have as much depth as other Pixar movies. But, I could give them a pass because in the end, an actual thought that I had was that sadness is kinda cool (literally).  

But was it well-made?

As you'd expect, the animation is beautiful, and full of lush colors and landscapes. I have to mention here too, that there was a portion of the movie where they messed around with abstract stuff, and that was ridiculously cool. It was a standout moment in what was already a exceptional film. Kudos to Pixar for that.  

Final thoughts

At the end, I wasn't sure Inside Out was that great a movie. Eventually, I realised it was because I was expecting much more of an emotional roller-coaster than I got - It's Pixar after all. But while it was there, it wasn't the best part about Inside Out. That would belong to the immense creativity which engulfs the movie, and for that, Inside Out deserves a place on the list.

My Score: 8+

Okay, next week we're onto The Wolf of Wall Street - apologies for the turnaround - or the Martian, assuming I get the chance to see it. Yeah, let's hear your thoughts on Inside Out (how awesome Anger was) in the comments below.