Film

Inside Out 2

Name: Inside Out 2
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family
Released: 2024
Cast: Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, Kensington Tallman, Liza Lapira, Tony Hale

Fantasy

Inside Out 2 follows Riley's emotions as she navigates adolescence and the arrival of new feelings like Anxiety. It's a visually inventive film that treats the inner life of a teenager with genuine emotional intelligence. Funny for adults, resonant for anyone who's felt overwhelmed, and unafraid to explore anxiety and self-doubt as central rather than peripheral experiences.

TMDb rating

3.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you loved the first film's knack for turning a messy inner life into a bright, inventive playground, and you enjoy animation that treats teenage feelings with real care and a lot of jokes.

Skip it if you find the first film's gentle lessons already learned and would rather not revisit a busy, crowded mind-palace with a new cast of feelings bouncing around the screen.

What it asks of you: Ninety-seven minutes of brisk, colourful cartoon energy that rarely pauses, so it suits a relaxed sitting where you can keep up with quick jokes and a steady stream of visual detail.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Inside Out2015

The original that proved Pixar could make the architecture of emotion as compelling as the story itself. Essential for understanding Riley's journey and why this sequel lands so hard.

But If you found the first one saccharine or weren't moved by its emotional beats, the sequel won't change your mind about the formula.

Turning Red2022

Another Pixar film about a girl navigating confusing new feelings in her body, rendered with the same visual invention and genuine warmth. Domee Shi's directorial debut has similar emotional courage.

But It's stylistically very different—more expressive, louder, less polished—and some found that jarring rather than refreshing.

Encanto2021

A film about family pressure and feeling like you don't measure up, wrapped in gorgeous animation and Mirabel's refusal to be fixed. The emotional core is as strong as the spectacle.

But The songs are inescapable earworms. That's not a flaw, but if you hate having 'We Don't Talk About Bruno' in your head, fair warning.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Inside Out 2

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Eighth Grade2018

Both films take adolescent anxiety seriously as a primary emotional experience, not a problem to be solved. Both understand that sometimes the feelings don't have a tidy resolution.

Bo Burnham's film about anxiety and adolescence is told almost entirely through a 13-year-old's perspective—no interior monologue, no explaining, just the unbearable realness of social terror and the hunger to be seen. It reaches the same emotional truths as Inside Out 2 through complete immersion rather than metaphor.

But There's no emotional distance. If watching secondhand social anxiety triggers you, this will hurt in ways that feel unwatchable.

Elemental2023

Pixar's most visually stunning work—a world where fire and water can't mix becomes a story about prejudice and connection. Absolutely gorgeous to watch and unexpectedly moving.

But The plot is fairly straightforward and the central metaphor isn't subtle. If you need narrative complexity over emotional sincerity, skip it.

The Mitchells vs. the Machines2021

A family comedy about connection and being understood, with kinetic animation and genuine heart. It's weird, visually creative, and makes you care about these people.

But The frenetic visual style—constant doodles, asides, visual gags—exhausts some viewers. It's a lot to process.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power2018

An animated series about identity, belonging, and the friends who see you when you can't see yourself. It's funny, beautifully drawn, and surprisingly profound about adolescent loneliness.

But It takes a few episodes to find its footing, and the early animation is less polished than later seasons.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power poster

BoJack Horseman2014

An animated series that takes depression and anxiety with complete seriousness while remaining darkly funny. If Inside Out 2 moved you, this is what it looks like to sit with those feelings for longer.

But It's bleak, crass, and sometimes cruel. Not a comfort watch, and the protagonist is deeply unlikeable for much of the series.

Craig of the Creek2018

An animated show about childhood wonder and friendship that somehow feels both nostalgic and completely present-tense. It's warm without being saccharine, funny without being clever.

But If you need plot momentum or dramatic stakes, the episodic, gentle pacing will feel slow.

Everything Sucks!2018

Like Inside Out 2, it treats the interior lives of teenagers with respect and recognizes that growing up isn't a problem with a solution, just a series of feelings you have to live through.

A scrappy comedy series set in 1999 about misfits making a film, where the emotional texture matters as much as the jokes. It's unglamorous, sincere about friendship and heartbreak, and genuinely funny about the specificity of teenage loneliness.

But It was cancelled after one season and ends on an unresolved cliffhanger. The production quality is deliberately cheap. Some find it too small-scale to care about.

Your Name.2016

Both films understand that self-knowledge comes through connection with others, and that adolescence is fundamentally about discovering who you are through friction with people different from you.

A Japanese animated film about two teenagers whose bodies swap, allowing each to experience the other's life. It's visually stunning, emotionally sophisticated, and interested in how we misunderstand people and ourselves until we literally walk in their skin.

But It's subtitled and the emotional register is different from American animation—more restrained, less willing to explain feeling. Some viewers find the pacing glacial.