Film Review: Inside Out 2 holds some valid lessons for children and grown-ups alike

Inside Out 2: Joy (voice of Amy Poehler), Sadness (voice of Phyllis Smith), Anger (voice of Lewis Black), Fear (voice of Tony Hale) and Disgust (voice of Liza Lapira).

• Inside Out 2
• ★★★★☆
• Cinema release

Nine years on from her first outing, Riley (voiced by Kensington Tallman) is just about to hit puberty in Inside Out 2 (G).

Heading up her emotional nerve centre is Joy (Amy Poehler), who believes that how you feel defines who you are.

However, as Riley embarks on a weekend ice hockey camp that will define her entry into high school, she starts to experience the more nuanced teenage emotions of Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser) and especially Anxiety (Maya Hawke).

Banished to the darkest recesses of Riley’s mind, can Joy find a way to remind Riley of who she truly is?

A worthy sequel that is not quite as emotionally engaging as the genuinely moving original, Inside Out 2 is arguably more sophisticated in its brilliantly simple visualisation of a self-sabotaging subconscious in conflict with itself.

Written by Dave Holstein and Inside Out co-writer Meg LeFauve, and directed by Kelsey Mann, the movie is at its best when illustrating the tug-of-war between Joy and Anxiety, and particularly as both, each in her own way, have Riley’s best interests at heart.

Even more interesting, perhaps, is the gradual realisation that perpetual joy is a dangerous illusion, the pursuit of which is every bit as damaging as succumbing to angst and fear, a lesson that is as valid for adults as it is for Riley and her teenage peers.