With my oldest niece in college now the built in excuse to watch a cartoon movie on opening its opening weekend has for the most part moved on (she goes to UCLA so she is close by) as school is more important than movies. While I wanted to see this movie it obviously was now destined for a home viewing but this past week I had all my nieces (3) in town and they wanted to see this flick and I am glad they did as this is a movie not to be missed.
The movie is about a young girl (Riley) that we see grow up as a baby to her early teenage years and as she matures she has these "emotions" develop in her head which we see in the form of the Anger, Fear, Joy, Disgust and Sadness. As she matures she has core values and endless memories stored in her mind which the emotions oversee. All is fine till one day Riley's mom and dad move the family from Minnesota to San Francisco and everything starts to crumble and in the end Joy and Sadness are cut off from Riley's mind and jettisoned to the far reaches of her brain. That obviously is bad for Riley in the real world as it leaves anger, disgust and fear in control which leads to conflicts and angst.
As Joy and Sadness try to get back and help Riley out they must maneuver through obstacle after obstacle as Riley decides what to do with her life as all the happiness as been drained from it. Riley comes to the conclusion she must do something extreme and as Joy and Sadness see Riley's whole foundation crash from the inside out as they realize it's no or never if they are to save Riley from making a decision that will cause her much strife going forward.
As with us Riley must learn how to accept life is not always what we want and we have to take everything in stride and all our emotions must be able to co exist. One can't live without the other.
Final Thoughts :
This is the best animated film of the year and is one of the best movies overall. The pacing was almost perfect with just a few slow spots but not enough to bother me. There are tender moments, laugh out loud scenes and its just a highly enjoyable film all around. Maybe it's because I had no expectations but I had no real qualms about about anything in it. If you don't catch it at the theater make sure to watch it at home. Not sure if this is my favorite Pixar film but it definitely is a top 3.
While this is the cake the cherry on top is the short film that proceeds it in the form of "Lava". Pixar doesn't just do feature films well they do shorts that are award worthy in their own right. A love story about a volcano out in the middle of an ocean with an angelic song that hits you right in the heart.
Final Grade :
Solid A and leaning upwards to an A+
Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.
-Penguin
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