Inside Out

Joy and Sadness (voiced by Amy Poehler and Phyllis Smith) in the new Pixar movie "Inside Out" 

How many ideas can the folks at Pixar have? They've given us talking toys, a lonely robot wandering through outer space, a monster corporation, a forgetful blue fish lost at sea, a Parisian rat who's also a chef, a house of floating balloons, a dysfunctional superhero family, and now "Inside Out". 11 year old Riley (voice of Kaitlyn Dias) is forced to move from Minnesota to San Francisco because of her Dad's new job. It's a major transition. She misses her old life, her friends, hockey. Her parents are distracted, and she's always been their happy girl. She hasn't experienced real life change yet. She's only 11. The story is simple. But not really. We don't see too much of Riley, instead, we spend most of our time in her brain, following the five primary emotions that make up her developing mind. They are: Joy (Amy Poehler), who has canary yellow skin and a cerulean pixie cut, Sadness (Phyllis Smith), a blue bespectacled librarian, Anger (Lewis Black), a crimson red square, Fear (Bill Hader), a purpled anxious bean sprout, and Disgust (Mindy Kaling), a kelly green sass with pursed lips and coiffed scarf. Joy is clearly at the helm of this motley crew, but the others have their moments too. Each touches memories that forever leave their stamp. Some memories (they look like glowing marbles traveling through multiple tubes) can be forgotten, falling down into a dark pit, to fade away, lost forever. Others though, the most important ones, become core memories, they shape Riley's personality. These are the five Islands of Personality: Family, Hockey, Honesty, Friends, Goofball. The big move causes Sadness to come to the forefront, every memory she touches turns a faded shade of blue, leaving Joy bewildered and confused, and the five Islands at risk of falling apart. How any of this makes sense is due almost entirely to the director, Pete Docter, and his genius collaborators at Pixar, who are working at a level of invention and imagination that is dizzyingly complex, going in a million creative directions and never losing steam. "Inside Out" is a major achievement; it speaks to children and adults equally, as most Pixar films do. A wholly original idea, in itself quite an accomplishment, it soars above and beyond its boundaries as just an animated feature by changing the way we think about our minds. Why we feel certain ways, why some memories fade, and some change. And also how you process experiences into emotions, which in turn, shape who you are as a human being. Docter, with his co-director Ronaldo del Carmen, and screenwriters, have worked through all the kinks the story could have stumbled upon. The screenplay is a miracle of organization, and it covers different aspects of the mind like train of thought, dreams and imaginary friends to comic and often very emotional results. There are many things to admire about "Inside Out". Besides the exquisite animation, eye-popping design, rainbow of colors, and a score by Michael Giacchino that bounces around as effortlessly as the character Joy, there is the story of a young girl, who miraculously is NOT a princess. She doesn't have superpowers. She's just an average girl, and that is ok. It does something else too. Something that not many children's movies even go near. It embraces sadness, allowing it to be an emotion both necessary and vital. Watching this movie, with my nephews and niece sitting close by, I couldn't help but think about how they were experiencing the story. Did they see what I saw? I can't be sure. During a particularly sad moment, my 4 year old nephew said practically out loud, "This movie is really sad." I leaned over and said, "I know, this part's almost done." But he wasn't frowning, there were no tears, and his eyes never left the screen. It's amazing what happens when you take children seriously, they'll really surprise you. They stop being children, and start being people.