Also, I don't own any of these pictures. They all belong to Disney and Pixar.
My rating: a perfect 5 out of 5!
They weren't kidding when they said that this was the best idea Pixar has ever had.
I mean, I went into it thinking, "You can't go wrong with Disney and Pixar!" (I'm not counting the Cars/Planes franchise), but it still managed to exceed my expectations.
The story is about a girl named Riley, whose family moves from beautiful Minnesota to downtown San Francisco. And I just went to San Francisco so I sympathized with her so much. If you watch the movie and think the setting was made to look unnaturally depressing, let me tell you, it was actually a perfect snapshot of the streets I just saw last weekend. It really is that gloomy-looking.
Anyways, as you probably know, the movie actually focuses on the emotions going on inside Riley's head. There are five of them--Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Fear, and Anger. So far the five of them have managed to coexist fairly well, with the majority of Riley's life being dominated by Joy.
Well, with all the crazy new stuff going on in Riley's life, Joy has a harder time keeping Riley's life happy. To make matters worse, Sadness keeps interfering. The five emotions live in a central control room of Riley's mind, where short-term memories gather before being shipped off to long-term memory. As Riley brings up old memories of Minnesota, Sadness keeps touching them, turning them from joyful yellow to sad blue.
We the audience feel as distressed about Sadness's interference as Joy does. Joy overreacts about it and causes an accident in the control room that gets her and Sadness sucked out of the control room and sent to the archives of long-term memory.
The rest of the movie is mostly about Joy and Sadness trying to get back to the control room. With the help of Bing Bong (Riley's old imaginary friend who's part cotton candy, part elephant, part cat, part dolphin), they traverse the various areas of Riley's mind. We get to see the maze of long-term memory (where workers vacuum up unimportant memories for permanent disposal), a chamber for deconstructing complex ideas, Imagination Land, Dream Production Studios, and the subconscious (a prison), the abyss of permanently-disposed memories, and the Train of Thought.
All of it is brilliant, of course. My dad keeps saying that they'll probably show this movie to Psychology students to teach them about the mind. It was super educational while being hilariously entertaining.
While Joy and Sadness are gone, the other three emotions try to make do, with disastrous results. Riley gets annoyed, angry, and shifty around her parents, driving a wedge between them. She gets mad at her old friend for making new friends. She gets angry about a missed goal and quits hockey. She's too scared at school to make new friends. Soon her tormented emotions lead to the collapse of all her core memories and established character traits.
That's the main conflict of the movie. Eventually Joy and Sadness make it back to the control room of Riley's mind, just in time to stop her from running away from home. Not only have they saved Riley, but they've learned a lot about each other and learned how to better get along.
So what's so brilliant about this movie? Aside from the super creative concept and the portrayal of the different parts of the mind, I think this movie is really important for kids to learn from.
The main issue, of course, is depression. They never actually say the D-word out loud, but it's obvious. Riley physically can't feel happiness or sorrow while Joy and Sadness are gone. They're gone. No encouragement or disapproval on her parents' part changes that. It only lasts like a day or two, but it's obvious that Riley has a serious issue.
So first of all, kids learn more about depression. Heck, adults in the movie learn more about depression! I hope this movie penetrated the thick skulls of depression deniers and showed them that not only is depression a real thing, but that it's not something that can just be wished away.
Another key moment was when Bing Bong is saddened by evidence that Riley is permanently forgetting him. Joy tries to cheer him up and snap him out of it with games and praise and stuff. Nothing works. Then Sadness sits next to him and says, "I'm sorry. That's really sad." To Joy's surprise, the more Sadness talks to Bing Bong, the better he gets. Soon he's on his feet again, ready to move on to the matter at hand.
Thank you, Disney and Pixar for teaching people how to deal with people who are depressed, whether temporarily or long-term! Instead of saying, "Get over it! Just be happy!" the best thing one can do is just be there and say, "I'm sorry. You're right, this is a sad situation. It's okay to be sad. I'm here for you until you're able to go on."
Ultimately, that was the main message of the movie: that sadness is not only okay, but necessary. Joy realizes near the end that some of Riley's best happy memories were preceded by sadness. When Joy finds a way back to the control room, not only does she bring Sadness back with her (despite her earlier declaration that Riley would be better off without Sadness), she actually lets Sadness snap Riley out of her depression instead of just flooding the girl with joy.
Before, we thought, "Oh no, happy memories are being turned sad! Stop it! Make Sadness go away!" But by the end, all I could think was, "Nothing's wrong with being sad!" It was as much an emotional journey for the audience as it was a physical journey for the emotions.
I loved that this movie teaches so much even as it entertains. You learn so much about psychology and depression without hardly realizing it. Most kids probably won't catch on to the deep stuff, but I hope this movie pops into their heads when they feel down. They'll remember that it's okay to be sad, and that without sadness there wouldn't be real moments of joy.
And it's great for adults, too, especially parents. What parent isn't like Joy, wanting their child to just be happy all the time? But, like Joy, they'll learn from this movie not only how depression works but also that just being there for your child and sympathizing with them is way more important than trying to bring them out of it with a happy-go-lucky attitude.
Finally, I loved that it was Family Island that ultimately launched Joy and Sadness back into the control room. Family really is the most important thing on earth. It can overcome all challenges--especially the emotional ones.
Before you go thinking that this movie was purely psychological and deep, let me tell you it was HILARIOUS as well. We were all cracking up, especially when the emotions in other characters' heads were shown. So funny!
So if you were debating whether or not to see this movie this weekend, I hope I convinced you. Everyone should go see this movie. Everyone.
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