We are inside, we are out, we are Pixar!

“Do you ever look at someone and wonder what is going on inside their head?”

The first line of Inside Out represents the focus point from which Pete Docter has started his latest animation movie.

The answer to this question is in the mind of Riley, an eleven-year-old girl who moves from Minnesota to San Francisco with her family. The main characters of the movie are Riley’s emotions: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust. They work in the “headquarters”, governing Riley’s reactions to the external events.

Anger, Disgust, Joy, Fear and Sadness at the headquartes © 2015 - Disney/Pixar

As Riley starts missing her friends and her house in Minnesota, Joy takes the lead to make Riley happy at all costs. The crash that follows between Joy and Sadness throws them away from the headquarters. To go back, they must begin a travel “inside” Riley’s mind: an endless space full of memories, fantasies, dreams, where they meet Bing Bong, an old Riley’s childhood imaginary friend, who becomes their guide.

Riley can’t live without Joy or Sadness: to be happy again she needs both, and this is the main message of the movie.

Joy and Sadness © 2015 - Disney/Pixar

With Inside Out, Pete Docter tells a tender story about human feelings, like he did in Up, his previous Pixar movie, but in a completely different way. The trip doesn’t involve a flying house or an exotic forest in South America: it takes place in the more sophisticated world of human mind.

Anger, Fear, Joy, Sadness and Disgust © 2015 - Disney/Pixar

Since 1995, with the first Toy Story, Pixar has changed the rules of animation, not only by using computer graphic, but also by telling stories that are very different from the classic Disney cartoons.

Inside Out probably represents the highest point of this evolution: the plot is not centered around the fairy world of princesses, heroes, and magic, but around the modern life of common people (or animals, as in A Bugs Life or Finding Nemo).

Riley's memories © 2015 - Disney/Pixar

Nevertheless, such a simple story has had the power to touch the heart of millions of people in the world, thanks to the great imagination and sensibility of directors like Pete Docter.

Director: Pete Docter, Ronnie Del Carmen (co-director).

Writers: Pete Docter (story and screenplay), Ronnie Del Carmen (story), Meg LeFauve (screenplay), Josh Cooley (screenplay).

Cast (Voice): Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Richard Kind, Bill Hader, Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling, Kaitlyn Dias, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan.

Year: 2015

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