I'm still convinced that Pixar can't lose. Their films are better written, better animated, and generally better than almost any other studio out there. I'm looking at you Illumination. Even Disney's computer animated shit doesn't look as good as Pixars films do.
Inside Out 2 has to stay in the same universe as the first film, so there really weren't any advances in the technology that I saw. Pixar's trademark busy backgrounds were present in this film, and there are some scenes that must have taken days to render.
Mild spoilers ahead.
Sure this second outing doesn't have the world building the first one did, per se. It does introduce several new emotions. Envy, Boredom, Anxiety, and Embarrassment join in this time. All hell breaks loose when that happens.
As it does in real life. I don't really remember changing all that much throughout puberty, other than growing much taller than I used to be and my voice dropping practically overnight. I do remember being embarrassed around the wahs because wahs are embarrassing. They still are.
I think the emotion we call can relate with the most is anxiety. I freaking hate anxiety. The film does a great job showing just what happens when you have a meltdown and boy can I relate to it.
I love the new parts of the brain we see, including the back of the mind, the brain storm, the river of thoughts and the bad memories.
And gosh darnit, on cue, Pixar hit me with the feels. It happens very late in the film and you can see it coming, but god damnit, I am a grown ass man and I lost it. I don't recall the first film doing that to me (it probably did, I just can't remember).
Is this film as good as the first film? Yeah it's entertaining. It suffers from typical sequel issues in that it has to start from scratch catching the audience up from what happened the last time. It's hard to believe the first film came out 9 years ago. The story is a bit messier this time but it comes back around in a great way and the ending was excellent. Like I said, I can relate. I've had too many panic attacks to count. I saw that they patched up the plot hole from the first film that has always bothered me.
Here's a tangent on Pixar itself.
I think the added time between the two films is one of its strengths. Pixar rushed the sequels to Cars out and they were worse off because of it. Toy Story 2 was great, but the time between 2 and 3 made the third film even better. Four isn't bad either, but I think Toy Story 3 is the best of the series besides the first film. Pixar's other sequel - Monsters University, wasn't that good. A miss. Lightyear was also a miss, as was Elemental (those are rare for Pixar). I enjoyed Soul and Onward was just okay. Luca was just okay too, nothing special. Turning Red was okay as well, and I like how it triggered people.
I did like how THIS film took some risks, namely with 2D animation. You'll see if you see it (and let them see you see it).
Like Wall-E, Coco, Soul, Toy Story 3 and 4, and the first five minutes of Up, Pixar knows how to get at your feels. If you don't feel anything watching those films, your emotions are probably not working.
Inside Out 2 gets a whopping 4.3 stars out of 5, and is easily the best film I've seen this year.
I've grown up with Pixar being a huge part of my movie watching experience, and I continue to enjoy seeing them in theaters, despite stupid parents and their kids being loud. We weren't the only older folks in the theater either. The people that sat directly next to me were an older couple. These films are good. They know they are. They don't have to try hard, like Illumination does. The only thing Illumination has going for it are the Minions.
I totally identify with this emotion.