Inside Out - psychology through colour

Pixar.  The very name has become a byword for excitement in the film-going community whenever a new release from this studio is announced.  Since being taken over by Disney, the studio that brought you Toy Story and the rest appears to have been mostly left to its own devices in terms of coming up with new material.  And why wouldn't Disney want to let them carry on with a creative studio that's made millions over the last 20 years since digital animation came of age?  Disney hasn't made a shit tonne of money over the years by being bad at business.

The latest is Inside Out, a modern interpretation of the Numbskulls in which we follow the little elves running the show inside the brain of an 11 year old girl named Riley.  The film presents a beautiful vision of the way that emotions form inside our minds, via a number of brightly-coloured elves who operate the controls inside our heads and form memories represented by similarly-coloured balls.  The major emotions (Yellow = Joy, Red = Anger, Green = Disgust, Purple = Fear, Blue = Sadness) each play their part, but Joy is in charge.  When the family move to San Francisco and their world is thrown into turmoil, the elves react by trying to re-enforce the joy that Riley felt as she grew up.  Eventually though, they come to learn that joy is tempered and reinforced by the other emotions.  Joy and Sadness go on a journey of discovery through Riley's subconscious, coming to the realistation they emotions are much more complex than they thought, By the end of the film Riley is generating multi-coloured 'emotion balls', and the control panel of the elves is greatly expanded.  Just in time for puberty.

This is what Pixar has always done best.  It's a story that makes use of metaphor to explore growing up, complete with themes that kids and their parents will each love on different levels.  One could criticise the film for over-simplifying the development process when growing up, but this is what all metaphor does.  Inside Out is visually arresting, inventive, emotional and absolutely in line with the ambiance of Pixar's classics.  Have a go.  Have a watch.