Today’s topic is a bit uncharacteristic of me to discuss: film reviews. Specifically a kids film review worthy of praise, Inside Out 2, recently released in 2024.

Before getting into the movie details, I want to say a few things first. I’m not normally much of a movie buff. Or a TV show guy. Or for that matter, a reader of physical books. Come to think of it, I’d really like get in the habit of sitting my ass down to read full length books and movies more regularly. It’s not to say that I don’t enjoy movies, TV shows, or reading books… quite the contrary in fact. But only recently it really dawned on me how I have an incredibly hard time sitting still, relaxing, or meditating, especially if it’s not late at night. I am a bit of a neat freak and have some mild OCD tendencies, so I tend to putter a lot, and listen to a lot of audiobooks or podcasts. Not that productivity is bad per se, but there has to be an end in sight. One of the things I’m working on this year is accepting an unfinished to-do list at times, and being able to sit down and relax, especially early in the evening, even if dishes aren’t fully done, belongings put away, and so forth. Moreover, since this is the last day off before work for my wife and I, she asked me ahead of time to “pause the productivity” by 5pm. Having a little mental heads up helped me accomodate to what my wife wanted, and the selflessness and flexibility on my end was undoubtedly good for me, too. I appreciated being nudged in the right direction.

So, about this movie…? Why did some childfree 30 year old decide to watch some PG-rated Disney kids movie? Well, my current individual therapist absolutely raved about it, and very enthusiastically endorsed it, even joking that he’d personally pay the $3.99 rental fee on YouTube or another streaming platform, if I agreed to watched it all the way through.

The protagonist is a 13 year old girl, Riley Andersen, with personified animated “emotion” characters inside of her head including joy, anger, envy, sadness, and anxiety. While the film is entertaining for basically all ages, I think adults can appreciate the deeper psychological metaphors emerging. When the “anxiety” character takes control and doubts Riley’s self worth, it creates much more suffering than when “joy” is in charge. The metaphor felt so resonant and palpable in my own life, in terms of giving myself reassurance, positivity, and not letting the anxiety character be in charge, when anxiety is all too often for so many of us, kids and adults alike. While I never saw the first Inside Out, even watching Inside Out 2 by itself, like I did, is totally fine.

The reason it is such a good movie even for adults is because of how un-attuned most of us are to our inner emotions and the different parts of us. Need I say more.

Other recent movie review shoutout from this holiday break includes Avatar 3 in IMAX. Similarly, I didn’t see the 2nd Avatar movie, and only the original Avatar when it came out many years ago. Also a very well done (and 3 hours long) movie like the original Avatar, and many similar profound messages about tribalism, war, community, respect for nature, embracing those you don’t fully know or trust, among other valuable lessons.