Inside Out

This movie has to be one of Disney's more unique ideas. The story is about girl whose family moves to a new city, and she has to learn to deal with the things that are changing in her life, including herself. What makes this film so special is that it is told mostly through the perspective of her emotions.

This is a whimsical and, though clearly fictional, effective representation of how we process things in our minds. Riley is the girl, and her emotions are Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Anger, and Fear. Growing up and moving makes her feel differently about her past. Memories that were once happy become sad, because she misses them. But in her mind, the sadness is invading her memories because Sadness wants to help out and keeps touching things that the other emotions tell her not to. They don't accept Sadness, and they are afraid that she is going to mess things up. Meanwhile, Riley's whole world falls apart and the islands of her personality separate from head quarters. Joy and Sadness get stuck on the islands, and have to retrieve some lost core memories and return to head quarters before all the islands fall apart.

I love the way that Inside Out interprets the reasons for human emotions and how we mature and change as people. This movie is very emotional (pun not intended). It brings up so much nostalgia, but it also adds a human quality to our individual emotions and thoughts that makes them relatable and pitiable.

It makes growing up even more sad than when we actually go through it because it makes you realize how much you change, and how much you leave behind. But it also makes you realize how amazing the human brain is, in an abstract sort of way. And it makes change and emotion so profound and positive.

There is a reason this movie did so well in the awards season, and not just because it is a Disney film. Everyone needs to see this movie at least once.