Inside Out 2 review: ‘Fresh, exciting and laced with thrilling ideas’, this joyful Pixar sequel gets under the skin of growing up

Fewer still have managed a repeat triumph in the storytelling department.

The golden, graceful sequel is, in fact, a rarity, and there are too many stories that have spoiled themselves with silly, superficial follow-ups

Did Pete Docter’s game-changing 2015 animation require a second spin of the wheel? Probably not, but Inside Out grossed $858m at the box office and won the Oscar for best animated feature. A sequel was perhaps always inevitable.

The film takes us into a world of personified emotions, set inside a 13-year-old’s head

It comes as an extraordinary relief, then, to find this vibrant, dignified follow-up – developed and managed by storyboard-artist-turned-first-time-director Kelsey Mann – in such astonishingly good health.

The story of Inside Out 2 is fresh, exciting, laced with thrilling ideas and tremendous heart. The jokes snap, crackle and pop in all the right places.

The animation, meanwhile, is bursting with innovation, and this beautiful, breathtaking film is among the loveliest entries in an increasingly packed Pixar vault.

You’ll no doubt recall the basic set-up. The original film was largely set inside a pre-teen’s head, and as such it invited viewers into a world where personified emotions bridge the gap between thoughts and actions.

These tiny troublemakers are just as messy as the being whose brain they help run, but they always have their human’s best interests at heart.

As this meticulously crafted sequel begins, it appears Riley Anderson (voiced by Kensington Tallman) and her folks have finally settled into their new home in San Francisco.

Riley has just turned 13 and is a star player on the school hockey team. Mum and dad (Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan) are chuffed that their little girl has found her calling and a new circle of friends.

Likewise, Riley’s emotion pals, led by the eternally optimistic Joy (a terrific Amy Poehler), are starting to get used to their surroundings.

Alas, puberty is on the horizon, and with that comes a whole new gang of headbangers in the emotions department.

At its centre is a simple message: getting older sucks

Chief among them is Anxiety (Maya Hawke), who hardly requires an introduction. The frazzled orange menace is here to replace Riley’s central belief system with a bag of worries, doubts and insecurities. A seismic change, and it just so happens to occur on the eve of an all-important hockey trip.

In the real world, poor Riley figures out the hard way that life is tough and that fitting in is trickier than it looks.

To the casual observer, she appears nervous, a little jumpy even. Inside her mind, however, complete chaos reigns.

Ennui (Adele Exarchopoulos) has moved in and taken over the headquarters couch. Envy (Ayo Edebiri) won’t stop until Riley has everything she wants.

It all goes sideways after Anxiety banishes Joy and the original emotion crew from the Riley mind workplace.

Can our friends make it back in time to restore Riley’s beliefs and ease her existential crisis? Maybe.

Much like its ingenious predecessor, Inside Out 2 applies a dizzyingly high concept to a charming cartoon universe where snappy punchlines and trippy sight gags go hand-in-hand with powerful, poignant themes of identity and self-worth.

Inside Out 2 didn’t need to be this good – it just needed to remain upright

It’s an extraordinarily clever film, but a fun one, too.

The first chapter examined the loss of childhood innocence via the tragic departure of Riley’s short-lived imaginary pal, Bing Bong (expertly voiced by the always reliable Richard Kind).

This one goes a step further and introduces its protagonist and her in-house emotion warriors to a world where joy isn’t always possible. Heavy stuff for a children’s film, but Mann and his team play a steady, capable hand.

These are delicate matters – difficult to convey on screen, especially in a cartoon – but the final third is brilliantly executed, and I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a more accurate cinematic depiction of a panic attack.

At its centre is a simple message: getting older sucks.

It is, in fact, the hardest thing you’ll ever do, but the joy never truly fades from life, not really – and this funny, gorgeous, profoundly moving film serves as a neat reminder.

Inside Out 2 didn’t need to be this good – it just needed to remain upright for 90-odd minutes so that it wouldn’t ruin the original. In the end, it turned out to be almost as magical. Wait until you hear the awesome sarcasm gag.