‘Inside Out 2' Reviews Are Passable, Not Raves

I won’t go into the nitty gritty as to why I had to miss yesterday’s press screening of “Inside Out 2,” but sometimes life just gets in the way, and you have to prioritize certain things over movies. I’ll be catching this one on Thursday and will post my review on that day.

“Inside Out 2” has had a ton of buzz stemming from advanced screenings, and hyperbolic early reactions on social media. Some were tweeting — or is it X’ing?— that Pixar was back. You have to always be wary about these sorts of things.

The embargo has lifted on the latest Pixar and the reviews are .. fine? It has a 73 on Metacritic (based on 29 reviews). Contrary to earlier reporting this won’t be the best reviewed Pixar in years. 2020’s “Soul” had an 83 on MC, and the more I look back on that film, the fonder I get about it. 2022’s “Turning Red” also nabbed an 83.

Just to put things into perspective, 2015’s “Inside Out” had a 94 on MC. Those were the days when practically every single Pixar release would get aggregated in the 90s. Gone are the days where, in a span of just 10 years, Pixar released “Toy Story 2,” “Monsters Inc,” “Finding Nemo,” “The Incredibles,” “WALL-E,” “Up!” “Ratatouille,” and “Toy Story 3.” One of the great cinematic runs of the 21st century.

I don’t think Pixar should be worrying too much about “Inside Out 2” not being praised like the original — it does look like it will be a major box-office success for the toon company. It could even go as high as $100M domestically this weekend. A lot of kids that grew up with the first film are now in early adulthood and will be buying tickets for this one, in droves.

There’s four new characters added into the mix this time around, including Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke. The other three are Embarrassment, Ennui and Envy. The voice cast includes Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, Phyllis Smith, Ayo Edebiri, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan, and Paul Walter Hauser.

Pete Docter, who directed the original film, is not helming the sequel, and that could be seen as a red flag. Also, original writers Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen are not part of the writing team for the sequel. Meg LaFauve, who co-wrote the first one with Docter and Del Carmen, is now the sole writer for “Inside Out 2.”