Inside Out 2 (2024)
★★★½ — Inside Out 2 (2024)
Kelsey Mann's feature directorial debut arrived with considerable pressure behind it, given that the original Inside Out (2015) had become one of Pixar's most celebrated films and had won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature under Pete Docter. Mann had previously worked as a story artist and director on various Pixar productions, making this a significant step up. Released in the summer of 2024 at a reported budget of around $200 million, the film performed extraordinarily well at the box office, clearing $1.7 billion globally and becoming the highest-grossing animated film ever made at the time of its release. It arrives during a period when Pixar had faced a run of underperforming sequels and straight-to-streaming releases, making its theatrical success particularly notable for the studio.
The original was a masterpiece, a near-perfect blend of heart, humor, and emotional intelligence. This sequel is not quite that. It’s still smart, still beautifully animated, and definitely worth watching… but something about the magic feels diluted this time around. The new emotions are fun and well-designed, and the film dives into some really relatable teen anxieties such as identity, social pressure, growing up. But the charm and purity of the first film is noticeably missing in places. The jokes feel a bit more forced, the tone a little broader, and the emotional beats, while still effective, don’t land quite as hard. Still a strong Pixar effort, just not a classic. If you loved Inside Out, this is a worthy follow-up… but not a replacement.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 2024 | Watched: 2025-07-16
Where to watch (UK)
Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK
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