Parents Say: age 8+ 153 reviews
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A Lot or a Little?
What you will—and won't—find in this movie.
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Educational Value
a little
Not at all biologically accurate in terms of how memory and emotions work, but kids will learn a bit about different emotional parts of the mind (subconscious, long-term memory, abstract thought, imagination), as well as important lessons about empathy and teamwork.
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Positive Messages
a lot
We all have many emotions, and they're all an essential part of life. You can't fully appreciate joy without knowing sadness. Kids and parents should communicate honestly and openly to each other about how they're feeling, even when it's hard. Family and friendship help make us who we are. Don't try to be something you're not; love and accept who you are. Teamwork and imagination can solve difficult problems. Running away doesn't solve anything. Additional themes include compassion and perseverance.
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Positive Role Models
a lot
Joy is determined, positive, helpful, and focused. She puts Riley's happiness above all else. Sometimes Joy overlooks or dismisses the other emotions, but she learns to appreciate and value them in time. Sadness is quick to put herself down (partly because of how Joy treats her) and engage in negative self-talk, but she eventually sees how important she is to Riley. Riley is a good kid who loves hockey and wants to be happy. She tries hard to please her parents and starts out eager and optimistic; when she later feels angry and lonely, she makes some mistakes (spoiler alert: she decides to run away, "borrowing" her mom's credit card to do so) but learns from them. Side characters like Bing Bong are helpful, supportive, and caring. Characters learn and demonstrate self-control, empathy, and teamwork.
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Diverse Representations
a little
Main characters Riley and her "primary" emotion, Joy, are girls. The main family is White. Riley's emotions are all voiced by White actors except for Mindy Kaling's character, Disgust. Some of Riley's classmates in minor roles are ethnically diverse. But in one scene, Fear says "Nooooooo! Pretend we can't speak English!" when he wants to avoid a personal question, which associates being a non-English speaker with being unable to communicate.
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Violence & Scariness
some
Many of Riley's fears are shown or mentioned, including a dead mouse, earthquakes, and an enormous clown that chases Joy and Sadness through a dream. Some tension and peril when Joy and Sadness are sucked into the memory core and journey back to HQ. Bridges and islands crumble, a train tumbles over a precipice, characters fall into a dark void (Riley's memory dump), and Riley's subconscious is dark and a little scary (stairs shown heading down into "the basem*nt"). Riley cries in class. Riley's parents bicker due to stress; Riley yells at them. Anger's head bursts into flames when he's really upset, and at some point, he blows out a window with his flames. Spoiler alert: A key character ceases to exist while sacrificing himself to help others; he doesn't die so much as fade away, but it's clear he's permanently gone. Riley runs away from home, boarding a bus all by herself, which could upset kids. Sadness often engages in negative self-talk. Anger sometimes treats Fear meanly, like pulling his nose and letting it snap back into his face. While in the realm of abstract thought, Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong turn into shapes and crumble to pieces. In a dream, a dog is split in half cartoonishly, but the midsection shows bone.
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Sex, Romance & Nudity
very little
Riley's mom recalls a suave, handsome former boyfriend. Riley's mind includes an imaginary boyfriend who says he'd "die for her."
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Language
very little
Infrequent use of insult words like "shut up," "moron," "barf," "nitwit," "idiot," and "dumb." Anger makes references to knowing a curse word, and there's one bleeped moment that implies he said it ("s--t").
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See AlsoInside Out (2015) | Rotten TomatoesThe key message that made Inside Out 2 bigger than BarbieInside Out movie review & film summary (2015) | Roger EbertInside Out (franchise)Get started
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Products & Purchases
very little
No actual products within the film, but lots of marketing/licensing tie-ins, from books and apps to a wide variety of toys, clothes, home decor, and more. A couple of fake brands are shown, including TripleDent Gum.
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Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Inside Out is an outstandingly original, heartfelt story from Pixar about growing up and learning to handle your biggest emotions. Told primarily from the perspective of the personified feelings inside 11-year-old Riley's mind (brought to life by the voices of Amy Poehler, Mindy Kaling, Bill Hader, and more), this adventure has many moments of peril and danger, scary images, and a few scenes of emotional sadness. Bridges, buildings, and islands crumble; a train tumbles over a precipice; and characters fall into a deep, dark pit. One character also permanently fades from existence, sacrificing himself to help others. Riley runs away, "borrowing" her mom's credit card to do so, and boards a bus by herself. Some of Riley's fears are shown, including a giant clown, dead rats, stairs leading down into a dark basem*nt, and embarrassing moments in school (like forgetting to wear pants). Language includes "shut up," "moron," "nitwit," "idiot," and "dumb." Ultimately, Inside Out has important messages about needing to feel and express all of your emotions, even (and especially) sadness. Most of the content is appropriate for elementary schoolers and up, but younger kids may need a bit more explanation about what's going on (like the references to abstract thought and the subconscious). To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
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Inside Out
Community Reviews
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- Parents say (153)
- Kids say (288)
age 8+
Based on 153 parent reviews
epid Parent of 5-year-old
June 1, 2020
age 8+
My 5 1/2 year old has been kept up with the scariness in this
We had to watch this for a school assignment, and I watched it together with him and helped him complete the assignment. My 5 1/2 year old found the idea of the memory dump of forgetting things to be extremely scary, and also the fact that Riley isn't able to feel anything when sadness goes missing. The style is dramatic with feelings getting sucked away and things falling into the memory dump. The ending does not make up for this scariness, and he's been unable to sleep since watching it, and it's an hour past his bedtime, and he's the type of kid who can fall asleep in 3 minutes normally.
Rebecca D. Adult
June 1, 2017
age 12+
Mixed Up Emotions
Not every person is emotional—at least, not every person feels or expresses emotions in the same way. That is one reason why I am reacting the way that I am to Doctor’s recent film, Inside Out. I am not writing this because I hate emotions. I value emotions. Emotions are the feeders not only of passion with all its disruptions to daily living, but of imagination and imagination’s creative urges. Emotions are where playfulness meets productivity. Originality is the result. Call me late to the draw, but this two-year-old film Inside Out has me more upset than its preteen protagonist, Riley.Why was Riley upset? Why am I upset?Sadness has no purpose. At least, that is how the plot of this 2015 film starts out. All we know is that every “good” sensation is categorized as such by the ever-optimistic Joy. Joy is there from the very beginning to greet Riley’s world at birth. Sadness is her inexplicable alternate.They have three companions in the Control Center of the brain: Disgust is there to protect Riley from pain. Fear is there to protect Riley from hurt. Anger is there to protect Riley’s rights.But by what right should Riley (or any of us) have Anger—or Sadness or Fear or Joy—when they exist for no apparent reason but to mirror reality through Riley’s semi-self-conscious brain? They are simply in control. It is emotion—not Riley—who in this movie primarily feels and thinks and does. Also curious in this arrangement is that, unlike in the case of Plato or Aristotle, Kant or Hume or Locke, in this film there is no reason. Here emotions are presented as a good thing—when, in our not-so-distant classical history, emotions were presented as unstable and destabilizing.Also important is that all of Riley’s emotions are purely reactive. They are simply responses to external stimuli, not the least of which are the emotions of her parents. This misplaced emphasis on externals is surprising, given the professed aim of the film: to look at human experience from the inside out.“There’s absolutely no reason for Riley to be happy right now,” states one emotion mater-of-factly to another.Every experience may be an opportunity for either joy or sadness. But the film makes it look as if we are controlled by emotions, and it is circ*mstances which control us through our emotional responses to them.Problem with the film: the film conflates joy with happiness and joy with love. These are not the same thing.Another problem with the film: even memories are cast as amenable to reordering, disposal and forgottenness.Our core memories shape our realities, which are presented as simply a reflection of our perceptions accumulated and understood over time. Our personalities are shaped by memories which influence our response to what we perceive as or experiences day-to-day. When Joy and Sadness go missing, everything goes haywire. Personality “Islands” are depicted as unstable; they shake and fall and crash to the ground.Imaginary friends like the elephant-teddy-bear Bing Bong are depicted as ridiculous and incredible.Abstract thought is depicted as imaginary (!!). (So much for the history of human experience, culture and civilization . . .)Ultimately, experiences are depicted as meaningless as soon as they are forgotten.Riley, through no fault of her own, is driven to react with anger and run away from home. The entirety of her personality is depicted as responsive and reactive—responsive to the emotions with which she is presented and reactive to the circ*mstances which she encounters. The idea is that giving Joy an inordinate place is unreality. All emotions are important and therefore to be valued and given an airing.In the end, Sadness DOES have a purpose. She helps Riley (and us) process life.There IS a moral to the story. Rather than trying to “fix” emotions, we should accept them and process them as they present themselves to us. (Perhaps this is why the tireless Joy is presented as a bit of a self-absorbed prick.)But if all emotions are equally valuable, why give priority to Joy? And if Joy is not given priority, we are opening ourselves up to a very Sad, Fearful, Angry and Disgusted alternate universe.Perhaps that encapsulates my feelings on the matter. Angry and Disgusted.When the plot resolves, it is only by coming to terms with the grief over her childhood hockey disappointments and her imaginary friend Bing Bong’s sacrifice through Sadness that Riley’s redemption and Joy’s return to the Control Center of the brain are made possible. Sadness has a part to play, after all. I do admit that it’s okay to feel. I do think that childhood memories play an important part in the formation of personality. And I do value the role of Sadness in the processing of these and other emotions. But I feel less Joy than Anger, less Sadness than Disgust as this film draws to a close. The assumption of the movie that troubles me the most is that emotions are presented as the primary processors of reality. Emotions are all there is. Imagination is nonsensical and problematic. There is no soul beyond the emotions—no reason to speak of. I do appreciate the film for its playfulness, creativity and colour. As a spectacle, it is appealing though not spectacular. And I do like the repetitive running joke about TripleDent gum . . . But this is not a children’s movie, not the adventure reel of delightful music and happy endings we have come to know and love. Only Sadness can bring Riley back to feeling. And therein lies a major flaw in the central message of the film—it is on the centrality of circ*mstance, not emotions, that our final focus is placed. The film ends convincing us less of the validity of emotions than of the pressures of circ*mstance. Joy does not win; Sadness does. In this sense the film is not a comedy.Nor is it an accurate representation of reality, inside or out.
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What's the Story?
When baby Riley is born to her loving parents, so is her first emotion: Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler), who's soon joined by Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader), and Disgust (Mindy Kaling) in INSIDE OUT. The quintet live and work in Headquarters (aka HQ), the part of Riley's brain that experiences feelings and makes memories. With Joy as their leader, the group helps their girl through toddlerhood (ick, broccoli!) and childhood (hooray, a hockey goal!). But everything changes when 11-year-old Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) and her parents (Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan) move from Minnesota to San Francisco after her dad gets a new job. As Riley tries to cope with a new house, a new school, and her parents' increased stress, things get out of control back at HQ: Sadness and Joy tussle over Riley's core memories and end up getting sucked into long-term storage. Can they make it back to HQ in time to help Riley get back in touch with all of her feelings?
Is It Any Good?
Our review:
Parents say (153):
Kids say (288):
Thrilling moments and creative jokes and references abound in this clever, heartfelt, beautifully animated adventure. Not only is Inside Out an engaging, endlessly inventive adventure with strong themes of friendship and acceptance, it has real potential to help kids and parents navigate the powerful emotions that come with growing up. Kids who might not be able to put their increasingly complex feelings into words could use Riley's experiences for context. For instance, she doesn't necessarily intend to be sarcastic to her parents, but that's what happens when Anger and Disgust are left in charge.
But Inside Out isn't overly serious, either. It's filled with moments of hilarity and unbridled imagination (you'll have a new appreciation for how "earworms" get stuck in your head or how dreams work), as well as warm nostalgia for childhood innocence and inventiveness. The emotions are also wildly entertaining and wonderfully cast. Joy's relentless optimism and can-do spirit make her a kindred spirit to Poehler's beloved Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation, and Smith (who played Phyllis in the U.S. version of The Office) is a good counterpoint as Sadness. And this story is just as much about Joy's journey as it is Riley's. Before her adventure with Sadness, Joy doesn't truly understand that the other emotions have important roles to play, too. As Joy and Riley learn, happiness is all the more meaningful when you've also experienced defeat, loss, or loneliness; that truth is a large part of what makes Pixar's best movies so powerful.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how Riley's emotions work in Inside Out. Why is it hard for Riley to tell her parents how she's feeling? Is it OK for them to ask her to be their "happy girl"? How does that make her feel when she's not in a particularly joyful state of mind? Have you ever felt like Riley?
The characters in Inside Out learn and demonstrate many important character strengths. How do Riley's emotions, Joy and Sadness especially, show teamwork, communication, self-control, compassion, perseverance, integrity, and empathy?
What does it mean to have "mixed emotions" about something? How do all of our different feelings relate to each other? Can you have joy without sadness? Why is it important to feel a range of emotions?
How scary are some parts of this movie? How much scary stuff can young kids handle?
What problem does Riley think running away will fix? Why is she wrong? What could have happened to her if she'd gone through with her plan? Parents, talk to your kids about why Riley's idea -- and how she went about trying to accomplish it -- isn't an example to follow.
Movie Details
- In theaters: June 19, 2015
- On DVD or streaming: November 3, 2015
- Cast: Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Richard Kind, Kaitlyn Dias, Bill Hader, Mindy Kaling, Lewis Black
- Director: Pete Docter
- Inclusion Information: Female actors, Indian/South Asian actors, Female writers
- Studio: Pixar Animation Studios
- Genre: Family and Kids
- Topics: Adventures, Friendship, Great Girl Role Models
- Character Strengths: Communication, Compassion, Empathy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-control, Teamwork
- Run time: 102 minutes
- MPAA rating: PG
- MPAA explanation: mild thematic elements and some action
- Awards: Academy Award, Common Sense Selection, Golden Globe - Golden Globe Award Winner
- Last updated: July 22, 2024
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