Taste Triangle 6: Inside Out / Head Over Heels

And we're back to films, let's keep this taste triangle ball rolling.
(No, I don't know what a triangle ball looks like either)

My History / How I Pixar-rived here

I really like the Pixar films and have seen almost all of them (didn't see the Cars sequels or Monsters University). I don't tend to watch them in theatres, but especially the Toy Stories were in the VHS player a lot growing up.

These days when they release on streaming / physical media they are like a comfort food. I know roughly what to expect. Or at least I think I do, because Inside Out wasn't what I expected at all.

Plot summary / A bit of a thinker

Riley and her parents move to San Francisco and she's worried about starting a new school, the new house, etc. The real stars of the show (and the core characters of the plot) are her anthropomorphised emotions, running around inside the control room of her mind. If Sadness is in control Riley gets sadder, if Joy is in control she gets happier (and for reference, the other three are Disgust, Anger and Fear).

Unlike Toy Story these heroes don't navigate the real world, but instead inhabit a representation of Riley's psyche. So memories are in little orbs that fit into a projector when they are recalled, different concepts like imagination or memory are represented by colourful islands the emotions can travel to.

Corner 1: Adventure 7/10 / "It's long term memory... you'll get lost in there."

Not that far into the movie two of the emotions accidentally get a long way away from the control room and have to make their way back. This absence of joy and sadness is a clever parallel for the depression that Riley is feeling in the real world.

• 🚀 It's a journey through a varied and colourful world unfamiliar to the viewer.
• 📋  - but there is no real quest other than getting back.
• 📋  - or antagonising force other than a vague time pressure to get back before bad things happen.

Corner 2: Smart 5/10 / "Boy Band Island? Hope that's just a phase."

Of course all of this is very cerebral, it literally takes place inside the mind! No?

• 💡  This is such a good idea for a film / way to represent emotions.
• 💤 -but it felt so underutilised and underdeveloped to me.
• 💡  The creators really thought out how this all fits together. Train of thought, long term memory, the groundwork is phenomenal.
• 💤 -yet the story is literally just two people walking home and coming to realise they need each other.

Corner 3: Heart 4/10 / "Aww, participation award."

Don't worry, it's a Pixar film. Here's the Heart corner to save the day! Wait, a four?! Oh dear...

• 💖 It's pretty, it's colourful, it's well acted, a lot of people that worked on this cared a lot.
• 💔 -but it just fell flat for me. Was I expecting too much? I feel like I should like it.
• 💔 Did I just not have the type of childhood memories the character Bing Bong was supposed to evoke?

That's not going to come out near the top...

Oh hey, it doesn't look that bad, a bit skinny perhaps. And the score...

35.94

Probably low for a Pixar film, perfectly acceptable for films /media in general.
Next up, another one about a kid just trying to fit in!