Inside Out
Inside Out is my all-time favorite animated movie and one of my top 10 films of all-time. Millie noticed it on Disney+ recently as asked to watch it as family movie night. Both kids seemed to love it, which was a kind of happy surprise because I thought it might be a little heavy for Clark, who is still pretty sensitive.
But for me, it was another wonderful re-watch. Probably the fourth or fifth time I’ve seen it, and it never disappoints. The animation is bright and vivacious, the score is perfectly emotive and personally I think Phyllis Smith gives one of the all-time great voice performances as Sadness.
The moment at the conclusion when Riley is finally able to be sad together with her parents and forms her fist mixed-emotion core memory is just perfect. Her sobbing deep-breath that transforms just slightly into a look of contented healing is one of my favorite tiny moments in any movie.
And watching this with Millie gave me another layer of appreciation this time around because since the beginning of January she has been having this conflict with her preschool teacher about whether or not she is allowed to be sad in class. Her teacher always says, “Don’t be sad!” and tries to distract Millie. But Millie has said straight out to her teacher that she is “allowed to feel sad.” She’s always been so emotionally intelligent and I hope the message of this film only reinforces that.
This is an easy 5-star rating for me.