Favorite Disney Movie

    

    Arguably by far, my favorite Disney movie is Inside Out. I think on the surface, Inside Out seems like an innocent children's movie with cute, memorable characters, but to me, Inside Out does more than that. Inside Out puts a spin on the classic coming-of-age film by looking at the emotions inside an eleven-year-old girl named Riley, a girl who is saddened by her mom and dad's choice to move them from Minnesota to San Francisco, separating her from her friends. Five emotions control Riley's head: Joy, Anger, Fear, Disgust, and Sadness. I think it's here already where "Inside Out" already starts to differ from the other Pixar movies. In this movie world, it is not fantasy or sci-fi, which categorizes most if not all of Pixar's other films; it's rooted in reality. All of her emotions controlling her head are emotions in our head, and everything that happens in her world is very common events in our world: Riley struggling through her first day at a new school, getting frustrated by her mom and dad telling her to stay cheerful, storming to her room, etc. These are all scenarios where we've more or less been through. And so, in this realistic world, she confronts a severe problem in today's adolescents: depression. Although she's never officially given the label of depression, it's clear through the movie that she is. The film does a beautiful job visualizing this by showing all the islands crumbling apart. And what's even better is that instead of having the usual Disney magic that seemingly solves problems instantly, Inside Out allows Riley to seep into her emotions and confront her fears, loneliness, and heartache. To see Riley attempt to run away from home but then begin to understand her feelings and explain to her parents how she felt was a very emotional moment for me since I felt a direct relation to that moment. Pixar paints the moment of Riley hugging her parents very effectively by putting together physically a tearful Riley being embrace by her parents and symbolizing the combination of the memory with both Joy and Sadness together. Altogether, I think Pixar took a jump with this film, and it paid off seeing how positive the reviews are.