Sequels can be hard to pull off, especially for originals movies that are liked greatly. For every Shrek 2, there is a Bambi 2. Pixar is not immune to this by any means. Of all their movie series they have created, it seems Toy Story is the only one to continue onward, while adding to the original in a great, heartfelt way. They even did it twice. On the flip side of that coin is what has happened elsewhere in the studio. Finding Dory did ok, but Monsters University, Incredibles 2, and the Cars sequels all were mediocre to disappointing. For a studio that has brought us so many original classics like Coco, Wall-E, and Up, this has been an area that they really need to veer away from. Which makes the news that came out last week so upsetting to me. It has been reported that Pixar is working on sequels to Finding Nemo and Incredibles. Does the world really need this? It is time for Pixar to tap into what made them the studio that shook up the genre, and make something new. I say all of that as this week brings us a new Pixar film that is a sequel to one of their top originals. Does it join Woody and Buzz on the mountaintop, or does it join all the others in the shadows of irrelevance? On to the review!
I can count on one hand the amount of movies like this one: an elderly revenge comedy. Well, that is what it is for the most part. Our story here is 93 year old Thelma gets scammed out of $10,000 when a caller fakes her grandson being in jail. This causes her to begin a journey to get that money back. This part of the story was really enjoyable, and June Squibb was delightful as Thelma. Richard Roundtree plays her friend that joins her after she “steals” his electric wheelchair. If that was all the movie was, the grade would probably be a lot higher.
Unfortunately, there is a second storyline, and it got more annoying as the movie progressed. Thelma’s grandson Danny is kind of a loser, and his parents (played byParker Posey and Clark Gregg) are kind of a lot. They become more and more overbearing and cartoonish the longer the movie went. One example of this is when Danny leaves to go pickup Thelma toward the end of the movie. When they return maybe after being gone for 30 minutes, we see the parents were already talking to the cops about filing a missing person report for Danny. That caused more than one person in my theater to laugh at how absurd it was, and that level of nonsense just didn’t really belong. Really, there were times I wasn’t sure Posey knew what movie she was in as she was just so tonaly off from the rest of the film. Thankfully, just whenever the parents were really starting annoying again, the focus moved back over to Thelma and made world right again. If only it stayed on her adventures.
In Legend of Zelda, there is an area called The Lost Woods. It’s a foggy forest that you will get lost in without knowing the secret to pass through it. I bring this up because it was what I immediately thought five minutes into this movie. Dakota Fanning plays our lead character who happens to find herself in a mysterious forest in Ireland that once you venture too far in, it is nearly impossible to escape. What makes it hard to escape is that when the sun sets, creatures come out and kill anything that they see. I won’t spoil what the creatures are, but they were interesting. With this being directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan, daughter of M. Night Shyamalan, I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. When it eventually did, I was surprised that while I didn’t see it coming, it also made sense to the story. The story itself was pretty basic, and turned more and more into a sort of fairy tale as it went along. It will be interesting what this generation of the Shyamalan will do in future movies. Hopefully she is a little more consistent than her father’s filmography.
It is really hard to follow up a beloved sequel and still capture the magic of the first entry. Even harder to surpass it. While this one isn’t quite as good as the 2015 original, it is still really good. The addition of the new emotions makes sense with Riley turning 13 and entering puberty. What kind of hurt it for me is I wished there was more time with the old and new emotions interacting. They are split up for the bulk of the movie. Anxiety was an excellent antagonist, but that party is because, for me, that emotion is a big part of my life. That brings me to my big question: Is this really a kids movie? While Inside Out plays differently for kids and adults watching it, this is more of a different movie between the two. When I say anxiety is the antagonist, I really mean it. The movie goes to some pretty dark areas(for a Pixar movie). What happens to Riley is realistic , so that isn’t the problem, but is it really something kids need to know is coming for them when they reach their teens? I’m not saying any of this making it seems like it is really bad for kids to see it, but maybe this is a movie staring at about age 13, or how old Riley is. The main thing that bothered me was the score in the middle part of the movie. It took me out it and made me think I was watching a Disney+ movie. The beginning and ending score is excellent, but the middle is just disappointing. Inside Out 2 is easily the best Pixar entry we have had since probably Coco in 2017. I would like to say it is a return to form for the studio, but Elio doesn’t look promising next year.
We haven’t had a movie win back-to-back weekends since Civil War did just that in April. Based on the new movies this week both being rated R, there is a lot of room for the emotions to win again.
- Inside Out 2
- The Bikeriders
- Bad Boys: Ride or Die
- The Garfield Movie
- Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Speaking of The Bikeriders, I have another Screen Unseen tomorrow before I see the bikers on Thursday. That Screen Unseen might just be The Bikeriders, so it might be a two reviews post week next week.
Mitten Film Nerd 
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