A film about the ruinous stranglehold anxiety can have on the psyche? That might be a little too apt a subject for Pixar’s latest release. It’s been declared, by some, that the studio is on its last legs. The last few years saw three tentpole originals funnelled squanderously onto Disney+ during the height of the pandemic. Conceptually confusing Toy Story spin-off Lightyear died in cinemas – but Elemental, an original story about a culture-clash romance, was a sleeper hit. The studio’s inexplicable takeaway: more sequels, fewer personal stories.
It’s another gloomy reminder that the people who hold the purse strings all share a single brain cell, and it’s put the incoming Inside Out 2 in an uncomfortable position: if it flounders, Pixar, already recently hit by a devastating round of layoffs, may be toast. If it succeeds, the studio will be forever committed to churning out Toy Story sequels. (Brace yourself for a barrell-scraping spin-off exploring the inner turmoil of John Ratzenburger’s talking piggy bank.) And yet, the reality of Inside Out 2 doesn’t comfortably fit either of those narratives. It’s a lovely sequel, without a trace of cynicism to it, that also by necessity lacks a little of the freshness and originality of 2022’s Turning Red or 2021’s Luca.
