“Inside Out”

PG for mild thematic elements and some action.

“Inside Out” is too valuable a film to be wasted just on children, really. It is to be experienced by adults. This is one smart film, far more intelligent than ten “Indies” and one Woody Allen.

When a child (Riley) is born, a team of emotions: Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith) are (more or less) there in her brain to guide the child to make decisions that are best for her survival.  We all have a set in our brains, man and beast.

The little girl has a blissful childhood in Minnesota but is uprooted with her mom and dad to San Francisco and things don’t go so well in her new life. This requires the team to go into high gear … and Pixar, in “Inside Out,” massages that very soft and sensitive spot near and around our childhood past. It touches us in the way we all want to be touched; need to be touched. It brings memories back that make us appreciate our primary emotions.

“Inside Out” is filled with all kinds of effective messages, intelligent observations, and poignant points about the journey from childhood to adulthood. “Inside Out” is a special treat. It soothes the memory synapses.

She (the critic’s indefatigable personal critic who advises on all things necessary and unsolicited) cried and that always means that the movie gets an extra bow tie. Her tears were well-earned; even I got a bit misty and for that I give a shout out to my special invisible friend from my childhood. I thank you “Johnny” for being there when I needed you.

“Inside Out” is not to be missed. It is to be appreciated, even savored, along with maybe a memory or two. And if you don’t like “Inside Out,” I really think your Joy must be lost in “The Dump.” And to figure out what that means, you have to give “Inside Out” a look-see.

“Inside Out” earns five bow ties out of five.

And with that, I bid you all goodbye.

I have been writing a column on movies for over twenty years; over one thousand articles and praising and snipping at far more movies than that.

I thank my editors: Pop (Richard) and Natalie but especially my sister June, who helped me avoid more than a few misspellings, convoluted sentences, and uninvited words.

To those of you who have been kind enough to tell me over the past two decades that you have appreciated my words, I thank you deeply; without you, I would have shut off my computer long time ago.

If I made you chuckle, avoid wasting your time with a bad movie, or encouraged you to see a fine one, I am more than a little satisfied.  

I am humbled that people took the time to consult my column for any reason, cinematic advice or reading entertainment. That was a great honor.

Most importantly, please, dear readers, continue to patronize the movies. Allow them to make you feel those primary emotions that inhabit “Inside Out” and our minds and souls. They need to come out, and a movie theater is the ideal place for such an airing.

Perhaps we will see you there. We are the ones down close to the screen; I am on the aisle … always on the aisle.