Movie review: Inside Out

Review: INSIDE OUT (PG)

Family comedy/102 minutes/Opens Aug 27

Rating: 4/5

The story: Hockey-loving 11-year-old Riley is perfectly happy until her family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco. Her emotions do their best to help her process the change, but when Joy and Sadness get accidentally sucked into the far reaches of Riley's mind, her feelings go haywire.

I have not cried this much at a movie since Toy Story 3.

Inside Out is an emotional roller coaster - from deliriously happy to gut-wrenchingly sad.

Only a heartless golem would sit through this feeling numb. I even caught my brother and my husband tearing up during the screening.

Inside Out may seem like it is for kids, but really, this is one for the adults.

It will make you recall your fondest childhood memories and your deepest, darkest fears.

It is also a great opportunity to probe your date about their past and psychoanalyse their feelings afterwards.

The film takes you on a magical ride through a child's mind, where memories are represented by colourful, shiny orbs, like those in the Puzzle Bobble arcade game, and are dumped in a cavernous wasteland when forgotten.

While Riley is the heroine, the show is arguably about the chemistry between her two strongest emotions, Joy and Sadness.

Voicing a perpetually happy brain fairy, Amy Poehler makes Joy seem genuine rather than annoying.

Meanwhile, Phyllis Smith injects Sadness with the right amount of emo attitude.

Inside Out drags a bit in the middle and I would have liked to see the concept of emotional interaction taken further.

But that is just me being greedy.

This is a good movie that is both imaginative and deep.

Check out other movies that are opening on August 27 here.

This article by The New Paper was published in MyPaper, a free, bilingual newspaper published by Singapore Press Holdings.