A Young Girl, and Her Emotions, Cope with Change

From left: Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hader), and Sadness (Phyllis Smith) in "Inside Out"

Aside from their last two or three movies, Pixar Animation Studios has treated filmgoers to a deep well of innovative stories.  After they released the original “Toy Story” nearly 20 years ago, their movies have amazed us with their originality, intelligence, and depth.  Pixar gave us more than movies; they gave cinema bright bursts of imagination.

With Pixar’s fifteenth film finally here, it’s evident that the studio still has an abundance of new ideas and the power to spellbind us with their storytelling talents.  Now, Pixar gifts us with one of their most inventive films yet with “Inside Out.”  Directed by Pete Doctor, a frequent collaborator with the studio, he delivers an endlessly creative vision of what it’s like to actually go inside the head of a character and see how their mind functions. 

The story focuses on 11-year-old Riley Anderson (Kaitlyn Dias) and the five personified emotions we see inside her mind: Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), and Disgust (Mindy Kaling).  When Riley and her parents move from Minnesota to California, her emotions do what they can to help her adjust to her new surroundings.

The voice cast is one of the funniest that has ever been assembled for a Pixar film.  Given how comedic these performers are, it’s one of greatest pleasures of 2015 cinema to hear them voice these characters.  The whole cast is wonderful, but there are some notable standouts, such as Poehler, who provides her bubbly personality to Joy, an infectiously upbeat character; Black, who is a great pick to voice Anger, a personality that we’ve seen him hilariously convey in his standup and other movie roles; Smith, who is a case of perfect voice casting, brings the same low-key and melancholy voice that her character had in “The Office”; and Richard Kind, who is a very memorable supporting character as the perpetually fun-loving and cheerful Bing Bong, Riley’s imaginary friend from her childhood.

The screenplay by Pete Doctor, Meg LeFauve, and Josh Cooley does countless clever things when showing Riley’s mind and how it operates.  It goes from her emotions’ “headquarters,” to her long-term memory, to her abstract thought, to her imagination, to her forgotten memories, as well as other places.  What’s interesting about this is that, although we actually see Riley and her displays of emotion throughout the film, we learn a lot about her mostly through what we see in her mind, rather than actually seeing her on screen.  The film is also a story about growing up, having your emotions develop, and learning that those emotions become more complicated as you get older.

Pete Doctor, who has done much to bring Pixar’s films to life, including directing “Up” and “Monsters, Inc.,” brings the brilliant mix of emotions, laughs, and intelligent ideas that can be seen in many of the studio’s films.  With Pixar having the cherished ability to make its moviegoers feel several different emotions when watching their movies, it’s very fitting that they bring a story to the screen that finds a way to personify those emotions and give them their own adventure, and once again, Doctor shares a story with us that’s both hilarious and very moving.

With “Inside Out,” Pixar continues its tradition of telling some of the best stories you will see in any modern children’s film, ones that will engage older audiences every bit as much as younger ones.  Having seen this movie twice already, I can confidently say that, even if you love it upon your first viewing, you’ll love it even more the second time around.  It’s a film that’s an absolute joy to experience (no pun intended), and is probably one of the best you will see all year.  This is a gorgeously crafted story involving matters of the mind, a story from the minds of geniuses. 

Final grade: A 

The Park is Operational, but the Danger is Still Lurking

Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) in "Jurassic World"
Photo Credit: boxofficemojo.com 

In 1993, director Steven Spielberg wowed filmgoers when he presented them with stunningly realistic dinosaurs in his adventure thriller, “Jurassic Park,” which was based on the novel by sci-fi author, Michael Crichton.  Afterwards, Spielberg tried to recreate the magic with “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” which was also based on a novel by Crichton, but couldn’t reestablish the full sense of wonder that makes us want to return to the original.  “Jurassic Park 3” continued the series on its decline, but that one isn’t worth getting into.

Now, after those two vastly inferior sequels, director Colin Trevorrow makes the move from his charming 2012 indie film, “Safety Not Guaranteed,” and tries his hand at this science-fiction franchise.  As a result, he manages to bring back some of its glory with “Jurassic World,” a film that doesn’t quite reach the height of the original, but is still considerably better than the previous two films.

22 years after the events of “Jurassic Park,” Jurassic World is now a functional park and resort on the island of Isla Nublar.  Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) is the operations manager whose two nephews (Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins) are visiting.  She recruits the help of velociraptor trainer Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to inspect the safety of the park’s latest exhibit, an enclosure that houses the park’s genetically modified hybrid dinosaur, the Indominus rex.  Shortly after, it outsmarts the staff and escapes.  With the park’s staff and visitors in danger, including Claire’s nephews, she and Owen must do what they can to stop the Indominus rex from reaching the tourists.

Many of the characters aren’t particularly memorable, and as the film goes on, you begin to miss those from the original, especially Dr. Ian Malcolm and John Hammond; but, there are a few who stand out, particularly Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, whose chemistry is enough to get them through the sometimes-questionable dialogue.

Something that the film improves upon from the original is giving a little more depth to the sibling characters.  Yes, they aren’t necessarily deep, but because they have more screen time by themselves than Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazzello did in the original, this allows us to get a sense of their brotherly bond and gives their characters a little more substance.

The screenplay by Trevorrow, Derek Connolly, Rick Jaffa, and Amanda Silver, thankfully, doesn’t acknowledge the previous two sequels, but is instead a direct continuation of the original.  After the major disappointment brought on by the second and third films, this is definitely the right move to make.

With the dialogue being lackluster at times and several characters being rather forgettable, I expected a better screenplay from Trevorrow and Connolly, the latter of whom wrote “Safety Not Guaranteed,” and Jaffa and Silver, who wrote “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”; there is certainly the capability among them to write an interesting narrative.  The film is obviously exciting when the dinosaurs are on screen, but it’s important for the characters to have a good amount of development so they are as interesting to watch as the dinosaurs, which is something I hope is fixed by the screenwriters for any possible sequels.  The writing team of “Jurassic World” does, however, make an interesting use of an unresolved plot thread to set up a continuation.  There are also some fun references to the original film placed throughout the movie, including Howard’s character having a cheer-worthy Ian-Malcolm moment near the film’s end.

As a director, this is Trevorrow’s first big-budget feature, and his second overall full-length feature after “Safety Not Guaranteed,” which itself had a touch of sci-fi in its narrative.  He delivers a film that comes a lot closer to the thrills of the original, whereas the previous two sequels were sorely lacking in that respect.  While there aren’t any scenes that match the original’s iconic T-rex attack and velociraptors-in-the-kitchen sequence, Trevorrow stages several dinosaur scenes that are still fairly distinctive in their own right, such as the pterosaur attack on the park and the climactic dinosaur showdown near the film’s conclusion.

While “Jurassic World” could have done a few things better, it’s safe to say that we finally have a passable sequel to Spielberg’s game-changing sci-fi film.  It makes for fun viewing, and is surely a step in the right direction if there are any sequels planned.  If the next installment can dedicate some more work to writing a better script, then we will truly get a sequel that matches the quality of the original even more.  For now, Trevorrow’s contribution to the series is an adequate continuation of the “Jurassic Park” story, giving me hope that this franchise will continue to improve. 

Final grade: B