LOGLINE: “Inside Out 2,” a new animated movie from Pixar now playing in theatres, returns to the inner workings of the mind of Riley. Emotions like Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust have helped Riley get through life successfully to the age of thirteen. “Thirteen years of hard work wrapped up in what some might call our masterpiece,” says Joy. Now a teenager, however, Riley’s emotions have been taken over by Anxiety, Envy, Ennui and Embarrassment, leaving Joy and Co on the outside.
CAST: Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Diane Lane, and Kyle MacLachlan, Tony Hale, Liza Lapira, Maya Hawke, Ayo Edebiri, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Paul Walter Hauser. Directed by Kelsey Mann
REVIEW: After a few films that didn’t live up to the gold standard established by movies like “Up” and “Toy Story,” “Inside Out 2” is a return to form for Pixar. It may not have the emotional originality of the first film, but it does deliver a touching coming-of-age story by way of an adventure through the evolving personality of a thirteen-year-old.
Inventive and vivid animation bring to life the processing plant where Riley’s emotions originate. Part high tech work station, part ephemeral mindscape, it’s a cool, and eye-catching, backdrop to the story.
As for the story, it’s a typical tale of growing up, the complexity of navigating emotions with relationships and family life, but it is reshaped by a healthy dose of imagination. Director Kelsey Mann toggles between Riley’s inner and outer life, deftly displaying the multiplicity of emotions that makes her human. It’s a romp, but it’s also a lesson in life and the things that give Riley a sense of self.
Added to the returning voice cast—Poehler, Smith, Black, Lane, and MacLachlan—are standouts Adèle Exarchopoulos as Ennui—“It’s what you would call ‘the boredom.’”—Envy as voiced by “The Bear’s” Ayo Edebiri and Maya Hawke as Anxiety.
As portrayed in the film, Anxiety is a juxtaposition of good and bad as Riley learns to harness the tension that accompanies the emotion for her own good. It’s an interesting take, and Hawke brings the character to life with a spirited performance. “Don’t worry Riley,” she says, “you’re in good hands. Now let’s change everything about you.”
Like the best of Pixar, “Inside Out 2” is doubled edged. It’s an adventure story for kids, but one that transcends the form with abstract, adult thoughts on the things that make us, us.
“Elemental,” the new Pixar picture now playing in theatres, takes an old-fashioned love story and gives it a high-concept spin.
The setting is Element City, a metropolis divided into four distinct districts, one for every kind of the city’s anthropomorphized element residents. The fire people live in the Fire Land, there’s the Splash District for water people, the Terra District for land people, and the Breeze District for air people.
“Elemental” focusses on the Lumen family and their fiery daughter Ember (voice of Leah Lewis) who immigrated to Element City looking for a better life. The young flame is poised to take over the family’s Fire Land shop, a small convenience store with the slogan “We Flame to Please!”
“This shop is the dream of our family,” says patriarch Bernie Lumen (voice of Ronnie Del Carmen). “Someday it’ll all be yours!” Eager to please her parents, Ember feigns excitement at the prospect of running the shop, the family’s pride and joy.
“I’ve been trying to fill my father’s shoes,” she says, “but I was never asked what I want to do.”
As her hidden resentment grows, Ember becomes sullen and begins lashing out until she meets
Water person Wade Ripple (voice of Mamoudou Athie), who, as a youngster, was once stuck inside a sponge. Despite that trauma, he grew up to be a kind, laid-back guy who cries at the drop of a hat.
Ember has always thought that “elements don’t mix,” but when Wade comes into her life she learns that sometimes opposites do attract and that she can make her own decisions. “Why does anyone get to tell you what you can do in your life?” asks Wade.
“Elemental” has a big heart, but not big enough to justify the film’s feature length. A new spin on the star-crossed lovers genre, à la “Romeo and Juliet,” it is a simple tale of the heart wanting what the heart wants despite differences. Then there’s the “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” vibe between Wade and Bernie, which is clever but never quite ignites.
The vivid artwork is often spectacular, and provides many beautiful images, but the watered-down story does not equal the film’s visual impact.
Director Peter Sohn, who also helmed “The Good Dinosaur,” builds a new world and introduces other story elements, including immigration metaphors, references to racism and intolerance, but these aspects often feel tentative, more well-intentioned than effective.
Better is the relationship between Ember and her father. Sohn used personal experience to shape the story of a father’s expectation and deference to tradition, and how the weight of that affects Ember. Their connection feels authentic and grounds the action of the rest of the film.
Opening the show in theatres is “Carl’s Date,” a sweet natured short film featuring Carl Fredricksen (voice of Ed Asner) and his adorable talking dog, Dug (voice of Bob Peterson) of the much-loved film “Up.” It’s a funny, tightly scripted look at companionship that made me think, by the time the main feature was over, that “Elemental,” given its slight narrative, might have had more punch, and seemed less stretched, as a short.
“Elemental” is wonderfully crafted, but the formulaic story prevents it from sitting on the shelf alongside other Pixar greats like “Up,” WALL-E” or “Toy Story.”
The opening minutes of “Lightyear,” the new, Pixar origin story now playing in theatres, inform us that what we are about to see is the film that inspired “Toy Story’s” Buzz Lightyear character. In other words, it’s the movie that inspired the merch that inspired a movie that inspired even more merch.
Chris Evans voices the square-jawed, heroic and slightly goofy Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear. After a disastrous crash landing on a strange planet, his attempt to rescue the crew, including Alisha Hawthorne (Uzo Aduba), his best friend and commanding officer, goes wrong, leaving everyone stranded on a hostile planet 4.2 million light-years from Earth. His famous Space Rangers helmet weighs heavy on his head. “Everyone is stuck here because of me,” he says.
Determined to return home Buzz embarks on a series of experimental flights using various configurations of jet fuel, trying to find the right formula to achieve the hyper speed needed to cut through space and time.
But something strange happens. For every minute he’s in space, a year passes back on the planet. As Buzz tries trip after trip, his BFF Alisha ages, gets married has a child, and later a grandchild Izzy (Keke Palmer), while Buzz remains, more or less, unchanged.
On the planet, sixty years has passed before Buzz, and his smart and adorable computer companion cat Sox (Peter Sohn) try one last test trip, one that will unite him with Izzy, her “volunteer team of motivated cadets” and Zurg, a menacing force with an army of robots.
At first blush, “Lightyear” may seem like the origin story we don’t really need. Twenty-seven years, three sequels, one direct to video flick and a television series later, you wouldn’t think there would be much left to say about the character, but Pixar has found a way.
“Lightyear” is a Pixar film through and through. You expect the top-notch animation, some cool looking robots, cutesy side characters and the occasional laugh for parents and kids. Less expected is how fun the action-adventure is and how effective the patented poignant Pixar moments are.
It’s a hero’s journey, one that actually humanizes the little hunk of talking plastic (or coded series of bits and bytes) and imbues a catchphrase like “To infinity and beyond” with a new, heartfelt meaning.
“Lightyear” may well inspire a renaissance in the character and spawn more toys, but this movie is much more than merch.
Richard joins CTV NewsChannel anchor Marcia MacMillan to talk about the Ryan Reynolds time travel adventure “The Adam Project,” the Toronto set fantasy “Turning Red” and the contemplative “After Yang.”
You can tell Pixar’s “Turning Red,” a charming new animated film now streaming on Disney+, was directed by someone who grew up in Toronto. Academy Award® winning director Domee Shi includes such staples of city life as a TTC pass and the CN Tower, but it is her reference to the Skydome, the original and only proper name, of the arena now known as the Rogers Center, that cements her Hogtown bona fides.
Meilin Lee (voice of Rosalie Chiang), the movie’s main character, is a free spirit in a traditional family. She likes to dance, hangout with her friends and she especially loves the boy band 4*Town. “Ever since I turned thirteen,” she says, “I’ve been doing my own thing.”
She is navigating the line between dutiful daughter to mother Ming (voice of Sandra Oh) and nonconformist. “Number one rule in my family is honor your parents,” she says, “but, if you take it too far you might forget to honor yourself.”
Everything changes for Meilin one morning after she has a nightmare and before you can say, “Poof!,” she changes into a giant red panda. Hearing a commotion upstairs, Ming investigates. “You are a woman now and your body is starting to change,” she says through the door to her obviously upset daughter.
When the truth of the situation is revealed, Ming is not surprised. Turns out the panda transformation runs in the family, usually following some kind of emotional episode. Unless Meilin wants to be a shapeshifter for the rest of her life, she has to listen to her parents. “There is a darkness to the panda,” says Mei’s father Jin Lee (Orion Lee). “You only have one chance to banish it. And you cannot fail, otherwise you’ll never be free.”
A special ceremony can cure her of the plight, but it must be performed under the red moon, which is one month away, the same night as the big 4*Town show at the Skydome.
“Turning Red” is an imaginatively animated movie that will make your eyeballs dance. Toronto is lovingly recreated and the characters have personality to burn. Mei’s alter ego, the giant red panda, is equal parts terrifying and adorable, a metaphor for puberty come to life, writ large. Topped off with great voice work from Chiang and Oh, it’s a Pixar worthy effort that can sit on the shelf next to the classics like “Up,” “WALL-E’ and “Toy Story.”
The coming-of-age story is equally well handled. The importance of family is a key message, like it is in many kid’s movies, but it is Shi’s sensitive (and very funny) lessons of asserting and being true to yourself that set it apart. Mei feels smothered by the overprotective Ming, but she sticks up for herself, even if it is scary. “I’m changing mom,” she says. “I’m afraid it will take me away from you.”
“Don’t hold back, for anyone,” replies Ming. ”The farther you go, the prouder I’ll be.”
It’s more touching and more nuanced than you might expect from a film about a young girl who changes into a panda, but “Turning Red” is that movie. It is unafraid to be silly, serious and heartfelt, often at the same time. It’s a lovely, insightful portrait of the chaos of being a kid and how respect, family and friends (and a little boy band music) can help smooth out the wild ride. Oh, and Toronto has rarely looked better on screen!
“After Yang,” a new sci fi film starring Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith now playing in theatres, is about a sentient robot life, but the firepower of humanoid android movies like “The Terminator” has been replaced by a slow, contemplative mood.
Set in the near future, “After Yang” begins with the loss of the artificially intelligent Yang (The Umbrella Academy’s Justin H. Min), an android purchased by Kyra and Jake (Jodie Turner-Smith and Colin Farrell) as a cyborg companion and “older sibling” to their adopted Asian daughter Mika (Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja). When Yang suffers a core malfunction and shuts down, Mika mourns the loss of her “gege” or older brother in Mandarin.
Jake’s search for a way to repair the “technosapien” caregiver is trickier than you would think. It’s more complicated than taking a malfunctioning iPad back to the Apple store. The manufacturer will only fix the twelve most common problems, and warns Jake it is illegal to access the data stored in the robot’s memory banks.
Nonetheless, Jake accepts a tool to access Yang’s core chip from museum curator (Sarita Choudhury), only to discover he’s been refurbished several times and holds memories from his many experiences.
Director Koganada focuses attention on the meditative aspects of the story, not the mechanical, creating introspective sci fi that elegantly and subtly explores issues of existence, grief, love and memory. The film’s cold, detached exterior melts away as the running time clicks along, as the sci fi aspects of the story become a study of relationships and why we connect with the people and objects that we do.
Understated but heartfelt performances from Farrell, Turner-Smith , Min and Tjandrawidjaja add emotional resonance to a speculative story that is geared to appeal to the heart as much as the brain.
“Ultimately, the film Koganada has made is a poignant family drama with some sci fi elements. But just because “After Yang” is more interesting than exciting doesn’t mean it isn’t effective and memorable.
Richard joins Jim Richards, NewsTalk 1010 host of The Rush, to discuss the controversy surrounding a review for the film “Turning Red,” written by CinemaBlend managing director Sean O’Connell, that suggested the film’s story about a young Asian girl struggling through puberty, limited the film’s ability to connect with audiences.
Richard joins Ryan Doyle and Jay Michaels of the NewsTalk 1010 afternoon show to talk about the history of the Ernest Hemingway Daiquiri, how Rotten Tomatoes works and whether “Luca” on Disney+ is worth your time.
Set on the Italian Riviera, “Luca,” the new film from animation giants Pixar and now streaming on Disney+, is a fantasy story about sea monsters with a beating, human heart.
Jacob Tremblay is 13-year-old Luca Paguro, a shy sea monster with a typical teenager’s curiosity. When he discovers items that have floated down from the surface he wonders what the world outside the sea has to offer. Despite the stories his parents, Daniela (Maya Rudolph) and Lorenzo (Jim Gaffigan), have told him of fisherman and the horrors of dry land, his free-spirited best friend Alberto Scorfano (Jack Dylan Grazer) has been above the water line and convinces the shy Luca to check out the terra firma,
On land, Luca and Alberto, who look like a cross between the Creature from the Black Lagoon and Sigmund Ooze of 1970s Saturday morning television fame, transform from underwater creatures to human form. Blending in, they explore the seaside town of Portorosso, discovering the pleasures of pasta, gelato and most of all, the Vespa. The town bully Ercole Visconti (Saverio Raimondo) sets his sights on them but a young girl, Giulia Marcovaldo (Emma Berman) befriends them and has an idea that may help them get their very own Vespa.
“Luca” is a fanciful coming of age story. The very specific story of sea monsters who aspire for more in their lives, has universal messages about find commonalities not differences, anti-bullying and never giving up. The morals are a bit on the nose—”Some people will never accept him, and never will, but he seems to be able to find the good ones.”—but they are kept afloat with imaginative animation and a simple story that zips along.
At its cold-blooded little heart though, “Luca” is about friendship. The kind of bond that happens between kids who are just figuring out the world and its possibilities. Director Enrico Casarosa, who directed Pixar’s 2011 Oscar nominated short “La Luna,” aided by fun voice work from Tremblay and Grazer, captures the youthful exuberance needed to make the story work.
“Luca” doesn’t have the emotional resonance of classic era Pixar—think “Up,” “WALL-E” and “Ratatouille”—but what it lacks in gut punch sentiment, it makes up for in imagination, action and the good-natured look at finding a place to belong, above and below sea level.
