Do your emotions have feelings? Well, according to Pixar, they do! Pixar has shown us over the years that things we didn’t think had feelings, actually do have feelings. Toys, bugs, robots, fish, cars, and monsters all have feelings. Inside Out is an emotional movie from Pixar about Riley’s feelings. Even though this is a kid’s movie, Inside Out provides some rather deep life lessons that adults and kids can learn from.
Inside Out Life Lessons
Inside Out deals with some rather deep themes. Though the movie does not show the whole array of emotions a person can feel, it deals with five important ones and how important they are. I hope more than anything that this movie helps remove the stigma that depression and anxiety have. Here are some Inside Out Life Lessons I gleaned from the film.
You Cannot have Joy without Sadness
In the movie, Joy tried her hardest to put sadness in a corner and not “use” her when dealing with Riley’s day. Joy also tried to prevent Sadness from helping Bing-Bong after the lost his rocket. Joy just wanted to skip past the bad stuff. Though skipping past sadness would be awesome, we have to be sad at times. Once we experience our sadness, once we grieve we then can have real joy and happiness for the future.
Once Bing-Bong grieved his wagon, he able to joyfully start helping Joy and Sadness get back to headquarters. All it took was Sadness listening to and letting him grieve.
Once Riley was able to truly experience sadness and grieve the move from Minnesota, she was able to heal. Then she began living and loving her new life.
You Can’t Ignore Your Emotions
Anxiety, anger, and sadness are all needed emotions. Not just in the movie, but in real life, having these types of emotions is considered socially unacceptable. Joy wanted to run the show and make all the memories joyful.
At the beginning of the movie, Joy understood every emotion’s job except for Sadness’ job. Fear kept Riley safe, Anger tried to keep things fair, and Disgust protected against physical and social poisoning. Each of our emotions serves a purpose.
Talking About Your Feelings Helps
Once Bing-Bong shared with Sadness about the rocket, he felt better. Once Riley was about to talk to her parents, she felt better. I know when I share with others what is bothering me I feel better.
If you need to talk to someone, reach out those around you. Be sure to also reach out to those around you that need a listening ear.
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Change is a Good Thing
Riley might not have liked moving, but once she dealt with the emotions of moving, she gained so much. Her personality grew. Her “core” personality changed. Some personality traits grew stronger and new ones were developed. People are not static beings. We change and adapt. We grow!
Inside Out Movie Review
Since Inside Out is really about the feelings, rather than the main human Riley, the story starts off with Joy being created. Joy shares with us how our memories are created and how our personalities are formed. It is really neat to see how Pixar animates and creates something to which there is not much visible evidence to support how our feelings and memories are created. The animation is really neat and I love how the characters were designed to resemble the emotions they play. For example, Sadness is shaped like a tear and Joy has a star shape.
Riley goes through a life change of moving. It is well known that moving can be a very stressful and emotional time for children and adults alike. Even though we just “met” Riley, since you are experiencing her feelings you are immediately drawn into her story. I am not ashamed to admit I was crying within 15 minutes of the movie.
During Inside Out, we are introduced to some fun areas of our brain. Ever wonder why you forget some things, but not others? Inside Out tells you why. Ever wonder where your old memories go? Inside Out shows you. What about dreams? Inside Out shows you how those are made too!
I think this is a great movie for children of all ages to see. Inside Out promotes talking about our feelings, whether you are sad, angry, goofy, or joyful. The movie also shows that having feelings and experiencing them is helpful. You need sadness sometimes. You need to be angry sometimes. This movie is going to help so many children, Pixar really has no idea what they did to help the mental health profession. Inside Out is such a great teaching tool for feelings.
I give this movie 5/5 stars!
What did you think about Inside Out? Let me know in the comments.