Inside Out 2: Brilliant Moments and Missed Opportunities

‘Hey guys, what’s poobertee?’

The 2015 Inside Out movie ended as the cute little green character with crazy long eyelashes (representing the emotion disgust) asks about the brand new, red PUBERTY button on the upgraded console at ‘Headquarters’ in the mind of an 11-year-old girl named Riley. ???

Joy replies by saying ‘it’s probably not important’. Ha!

In case you missed it, the first Inside Out movie introduced us to Riley, her move to a new city with her family and the challenges she faces adjusting to change. The story is told through five personified emotions at the control centre of her mind. We follow Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Anger and Fear who guide Riley through everyday life.

Inside Out 2 picks up where Inside Out left off. Riley is now 13, puberty hits and new emotions join the original crew at Headquarters; Anxiety, Embarrassment, Envy and Ennui (French for boredom).

The emotion science behind every colourful, adorable character is on point thanks to the consulting expertise of emotion science experts. Challenging as it was to whittle twenty emotions down to 5 for Inside Out and another 4 key characters for Inside Out 2, the team nailed it.

I loved the way the experts introduced and evolved Riley’s Sense of Self (built from her memories and beliefs), updated her personality islands (family being sooooo small compared to friends – so true of adolescence!), explained the importance of emotions working together and how emotions affect how Riley feels, what she thinks, her physiology (hello blushing!) and the choices she makes.

As an anxiety speaker, author and podcaster, and someone who is personally very well acquainted with anxiety, I was fascinated to see how anxiety would be portrayed. If you haven’t ‘met’ her yet, picture a weirdly cute, bright orange character with a big tuft of frazzled hair, eyebrows that defy gravity, a wide mouth, bulging eyes and arms full of a half dozen suitcases on arrival. So. Much. Baggage. (Update, see image above!)

I appreciated so much about the Anxiety character; the way she was portrayed as Riley’s protector and the depiction of how anxiety can take over and, at times, build into a panic attack. But the storyline was ripe for more gold nuggets when it comes to this complicated emotion. Some of what I would have loved to have seen and heard was:

• an emphasis on how anxiety shows up around what we care about
• a clearer distinction between fear and anxiety
• a scenario showing how important anxiety is to keep us safe but is so often detects genuine threat where there lies change, challenge and opportunity

I would have dearly loved seeing Riley taught a practical strategy to settle her anxiety back down. I was disappointed to see anxiety blamed for so many of Riley’s bad decisions too.

All of that said, it’s an incredible movie bringing complex neuroscience to life in ways that help kids and their parents better understand the mind and the importance of all emotions. I highly recommend seeing the movie. It’s fun, it’s colourful, it’s moving at times, it’s fascinating and full of so much learning about the brain and what it’s like to be a teenager.

I've created a Discussion Guide for parents and carers to help facilitate meaningful conversations before and after the movie. Email [email protected] for a copy or download from my newsfeed post. Enjoy!

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