Cathartic thrills in Pixar’s return to form

WHAT PURPOSE does Sadness serve in our lives? It seems like it isn’t as significant as Joy (which keeps us happy), Anger (makes us feel deeply about fairness), Fear (keeps us safe) and Disgust (drives poisons away)—but, directors Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen make a great case about its underappreciated importance in “Inside Out,” Pixar’s audacious return to form, showing Aug. 19.

In Pixar’s poignantly insightful 15th full-length feature, these synchronized emotions go into overdrive inside the head of 11-year-old Riley Andersen (voiced by Kaitlyn Dias) when she moves with her mom (Diane Lane) and dad (Kyle MacLachlan) from rural Minnesota to San Francisco, where exciting—and terrifying—new challenges await her.

As uncertainty looms, the negative emotions inside her forge on and ride roughshod over her previously happy life.

But, the excitement is even more headily urgent inside Riley’s head, where Joy (Amy Pohler) holds sway, until she and Sadness (Phyllis Smith) are accidentally ejected out of their “headquarters,” a closely guarded control room where Joy keeps Riley’s other emotions in check.

Joy and Sadness find themselves stuck in the labyrinthine storage area of Riley’s long-term memories, leaving Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling) to rule the emotional roost!

Uprooted from her Midwest upbringing, Riley begins life with her new schoolmates, who don’t seem as welcoming. Anger, Disgust and Fear attempt to maintain the young girl’s volatile emotional state in Joy’s absence—but, they inadvertently drive her further away from her worried parents.

As Joy and Sadness make their way out of Imagination Land, they end up navigating the limbo-like Memory Dump (where some precious memories are lost forever) and the other crannies of Riley’s young mind.

They must team up with Riley’s dream boyfriend and Bing Bong (the outstanding Richard Kind), the preteen’s long-forgotten imaginary friend—who’s part kitten, elephant, dolphin and cotton candy—to help the girl deal with growing pains and other unsettling changes in her life!

Docter and Del Carmen seamlessly juggle Riley’s shifting and clashing emotions as they cleverly dramatize the young protagonist’s new challenges, as well as the Emotions’ misadventures inside her head.

They offer a two-pronged tale so confidently crafted and ingeniously realized it’ll make kids laugh—and adults cry!