This entertaining story shows the reactions that we all have and what these emotions go through to help us cope with life’s changes. Like in the first edition the story is centered around a young child dealing with the effects of a family move from Minnesota to San Francisco. Here Riley encounters new feelings that she has never experienced before, and her emotional headquarters goes through a rollercoaster of change trying to understand how to put out the fires. This version continues involving those emotions and includes new ones that now a thirteen-year-old Riley, is beginning to experience. She needs to find a way to control them however, or she will be doomed to loneliness forever.
As we already know Riley’s first escapade with these characters, who are established by color, like Joy (Amy Poehler), a yellow happy emotion, Sadness (Phyllis Smith), a blue sad emotion, Anger (Lewis Black), a red angry emotion, Fear (Tony Hale replaces Bill Hader), a purple scared emotion, and Disgust (Liza Lapria replaces Mindy Kaling), a green disgusted emotion, was out of this world. Now we have four new emotions and colors introduced, Anxiety (Maya Hawke), an orange anxious emotion, Envy (Ayo Edebiri), a cyan envious emotion, Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), a pink embarrassed emotion. As these existing senses begin to discover these new characters, Whew!; A they find that they must complete a necessary journey to cope with these new capabilities.
This new narrative goes through the mind of a thirteen-year-old girl trying to understand her new reactions centered around puberty. Riley Andersen (Kensington Tallman replaces Kaitlyn Dias) trying to understand these new changes in her sentiments, has her concerned on how she will react to the important people and events in her life. Her parents, the Andersons, Riley’s mother ( Diane Lane) and her father (Kyle MacLachlan) are still important to her, but not as much when she was younger and now with the new occurrences, she is afraid to ask for an understanding.
Her friends, Grace (Grace Lu), and Bree (Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green), who she is very close with and acquired over the last two years, are a huge influence in her life. Still playing hockey and turning into a star player, Riley has to also consider her future. With high school beginning soon, making the team is now a high priority.
Director Kelsey Mann does a good job blending the new installment with the older chapter. Keeping the same format and writing this tale in the usual Pixar style made it easier to follow through this adventure. He continues Riley’s life journey where the first film left off and remains true to her personality, but now she is thirteen years old and has reached puberty. Mann builds on the effects of puberty on this young girl and shows how her decisions can really change her life. He includes the anxiety that a young girl may go through when moving from Middle School to High School. Also centering around Riley’s favorite sport of hockey and at a camp that may determine her future is a fantastic way to present this adolescent expedition.
Diving into the world of Pixar animation is always a safe bet when venturing to your local theater and this one is definitely worth doing just that. If you were a fan of the first adventure, then you will not be disappointed. This is absolutely a good film for the kids, but keep in mind there are some scenes they might not quite understand.
Final Comment: I based my grade on a wonderful storyline, and excellent animation.
Stars 3.5 out of 5
Additional Film Information
Cast (Voices): Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Tony Hale, Liza Lapira, Maya Hawke, Ayo Edebiri, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Paul Walter Hauser, Kensington Tallman, Diane Lane, and Kyle MacLachlan.
Directed by: Kelsey Mann
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Family, and Fantasy.
MPAA Rating: Rated PG for some thematic elements.
Running Time: 1 hour and 36 minutes.
Release Date: June 14, 2024
Distributed By: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release In: Standard, Dolby Digital, and D-Cinema.