Emotions are wildly complex, and Pixar often capitalizes on our feelings to elicit a reaction to their movies. While the Disney-owned animation studio has had a tumultuous few years with efforts like Luca and Lightyear struggling to connect with audiences (in part due to opening during the COVID years), Inside Out 2 proves Pixar still has an abundance of creative juice left in the tank.

Before Pete Docter became the studio’s chief creative officer in 2018, he directed some of the its most iconic movies like Monsters, Inc. and, more recently, the first Inside Out. The original film follows an 11-year-old girl named Riley Anderson and the emotions that operate out of her brain’s control centre as they try to guide her through the biggest change she’s faced thus far: moving to San Francisco. Her core emotions, Joy (Amy Poehler), Anger (Lewis Black), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Disgust (Liza Lapira), and Fear (Tony Hale) return for the sequel, with Maya Hawke joining the cast as Anxiety.

Yes, that’s right. Riley is now thirteen and experiencing the complicated and unpredictable journey that is puberty. Other new emotions like Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), Ennui AKA Boredum (Adèle Exarchopoulos), and Envy (Ayo Edebiri) also show up to shake things up for Riley and her team of emotions. When Riley’s upcoming high school hockey coach invites her and her two best friends to a skills weekend retreat, she is determined to do whatever it takes to impress the coach and make her new school’s hockey team.

Right out of the gate, Inside Out 2 is grander in scope and complexity than the Oscar-winning original, allowing it to be stacked against Pixar’s greatest sequels. It also expands on themes present in the first movie by highlighting how every emotion serves a purpose, even the ones that only seem to be present to cause us stress. As Riley and Joy learn throughout Inside Out 2, anxiety can have its benefits, but too much can become debilitating.

In an incredibly poignant scene, Anxiety downs a bunch of energy drinks and embarks on a frenzy to protect Riley from anything that could go wrong during her weekend at hockey camp. Joy responds by exclaiming how Anxiety uses Riley’s imagination against her. Moments like this one will hit close to home for anyone who’s suffered from crippling anxiety. Audiences who unaware of how damaging such a feeling can be will hopefully be made more aware of what it’s like to be in someone else’s head.

Now that Riley is maturing, she is not only gaining new emotions, but she’s also developing who she is as a person. Core beliefs are a new concept that director Kelsey Mann introduces in the sequel, and they feel cohesive with the world that was established in the first movie. The animation in these sequences is particularly mesmerizing as Joy plants Riley’s most important memories in her belief tree, spawning threads up to headquarters to create Riley’s sense of self. Watching Anxiety dismantle the person Joy and Company have spent years building up in favour of a new version of Riley fit for high school is both heartbreaking and deeply relatable.

Along with being extraordinarily insightful and emotional, Inside Out 2 is also a hilarious adventure from start to finish. When Anxiety and Joy struggle to compromise on who should be leading Riley’s team of emotions, Anxiety literally bottles Riley’s core emotions and sends them to the back of her mind, leading to the funniest scene in the entire film. This sequence also features a variety of animation styles like 2D and 8-bit animation, which is a genius choice as it ultimately enhances what’s happening on screen instead of distracting from it. 

Some people may roll their eyes reading about a conglomerated movie studio finding its rhythm with a sequel to one of its most significant pieces of intellectual property. But to those people, I say that Pixar has always championed sequels (for the most part). Inside Out 2 may not be on the level of Toy Story 3, but it is a worthy successor to Inside Out that fans of all ages will watch for generations to come.

Inside Out 2 is now in theatres.