Inside Out 2: 5 Eye-Opening Lessons The Disney Pixar Movie Teaches Us

After the massive success of the 2015 Disney Pixar animated movie ‘Inside Out’, the creators released its sequel ‘Inside Out 2’ on June 14, 2024, in Indian theatres. This is the story of an adolescent Riley and her five major emotions - Happiness, Sadness, Disgust, Anger, and Fear - who control her every reaction. The second instalment has boosted the plot with freshly added emotions due to Riley entering teenage including Envy, Embarrassment, Ennui, and the most fierce Anxiety.

The children’s movie has been running with houseful shows globally mostly occupied by adults due to its stunning and realistic portrayal of complex human emotions. It has also become the first movie of 2024 to touch the worldwide $1 billion mark with its record-breaking box office collection, according to Variety.

Inside Out 2 Review And Storyline

I visited the theatres to delve into the Disney Pixar movie ‘Inside Out 2’. Brimming with positive reviews and a record-breaking collection globally, the movie has established a significant fanbase. It is safe to say that Disney has amazed its audience yet again with its vibrant artistic animation, capturing storyline, incredible comedy timing, and relatability angle with the most realistic portrayal of human emotions.

The movie revolves around a teenager Riley who tops her class and scores immaculately in ice hockey. After a year of solitude and melancholic clouds, she finds her sunshine in two of her classmates Bree and Grace who become her best friends. From goofing around together to playing ice hockey in the school team, the girls spend the time of their lives before they get assigned separate high schools tearing Riley apart. Thus begins her journey of a whirlwind of emotional flooding and drought followed by a chaotic chase between her nine emotions playing tug of war to command her.

Inside Out 2 Lessons Learned

Here are some lessons that I have learnt from ‘Inside Out 2’. CAUTION: Spoilers ahead!

What Makes You “You”

‘Inside Out 2’ creatively exhibits what builds our character. It is synonymous with how we become whatever we feed our brains. Our positive or negative experiences alone can help us develop to an extent while the amalgamation and the right balance of both can do wonders! The movie begins with Happiness and other basic emotions ruling Riley’s mind and disposing of her negative experiences. It progresses with anxiety imitating the same job with a pessimistic approach. By the end, each emotion realises how their peaceful co-existence strikes a balance and helps Riley develop her sense of self.

Why Suppressing Emotions Is Wrong

Teenage is the stepping stone for emotional complexities which entangle progressively in adulthood. We tend to majorly focus on feelings like envy, anxiety, ennui, and embarrassment while suppressing the quintessential ones including happiness and sadness that help us stay grounded. Once Dr Jug from ‘Dear Zindagi’ said, “Khul ke ro nahi sakogi to khul kar has kaise paogi (how will you openly laugh if you haven’t freely cried).” ‘Inside Out 2’ highlights the importance of accepting every emotion as is instead of burying it deep within to lead a “safer” life, as Anxiety would say!

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Emotions Are Not Your Boss

We are often told by mental health professionals and spirituality coaches how we must control our emotions and not otherwise. ‘Inside Out 2’ visually represents this concept in the most wholesome way possible. While the movie is on the verge of concluding, each emotion finds its way back to the Emotions’ Headquarters. After an enormous fight between Happiness and Anxiety on who gets to control Riley’s feelings, they realise that none of them is subjected to do so. They let go of their urge to make Riley stay tuned to her childhood self or develop into a stressful anxious adolescent and let her build her character herself.

Understanding Your Inner-Child

Audiences and critics alike believe that ‘Inside Out 2’ is not made for children as adults can resonate more with it. The Disney movie sensitively teaches us to detangle our intricate emotional threads and love ourselves as we are. It educates us to embrace our spikes and flowers with equal love while forgiving ourselves for even the most embarrassing occurrences.

Managing Anxiety

When anxiety loses control over Riley’s mind clouding her thought process and shattering her sense of self, each emotion breaks her negatively developed character to establish her positive self in unison. This teaches us how watering anxiety can contribute to an endless loop of flooding emotions in our minds leaving no room for any other feeling to reflect. Only after Happiness comforted Anxiety by saying "he was enough" did he break his eternal chain of unsettling thoughts and freed Riley of an anchor that kept pulling her back.

As an audience, I strongly recommend ‘Inside Out 2’ to teenagers and adults. The movie is a slap on the face of the system that makes us mug up textbooks but rarely educates us on addressing our deep-seated emotions.

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