Directed
by: Pete Docter
SCreenplay by: Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley
Story by: Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen
Produced
By: Jonas Rivera
Starring:
Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Richard Kind, Bill Hader, Lewis Black,
Mindy Kaling, Kaitlyn Dias, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan
Music by: Michael Giacchino
Production Company: Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios
Release date: May 18, 2015 (Cannes), June 19, 2015 (United States)
Plot: Within
the mind of a young girl named Riley are the basic emotions that
control her actions: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger. Her
experiences become memories, stored as colored orbs, which are
sent into long-term memory each night. The aspects of five most
important "core memories" within her personality incorporate the
form of five floating islands. Joy acts as the leader, and she
and the rest of the emotions try to limit Sadness's influence.
At the age
of 11, Riley moves from Minnesota to San Francisco for her father's
new job. She at first has poor experiences: the new house is cramped
and old, her father hardly has any time for her, a local pizza
parlor only serves pizza topped with broccoli (which Riley dislikes),
and the moving van with their belongings ends up in Texas and
will not arrive for weeks. On Riley's first day at her new school,
Sadness retroactively turns joyous memories sad, which causes
Riley to cry in front of her class and creates a sad core memory.
Joy tries to dispose of it by using a vacuum tube but accidentally
knocks the other core memories loose during a struggle with Sadness,
disabling the personality islands. Joy, Sadness, and the core
memories are sucked out of Headquarters.
In Joy and
Sadness's absence, Anger, Fear, and Disgust are forced to take
control of Riley with disastrous results, distancing Riley from
her parents, friends, and hobbies. Because of this, her personality
islands gradually crumble and fall into the "Memory Dump", where
memories are forgotten. Finally, Anger resolves to return to Minnesota,
believing it will restore her happiness.
While navigating
the vast long-term memory area, Joy and Sadness encounter Bing
Bong, Riley's childhood imaginary friend, who suggests riding
the "train of thought" back to Headquarters. The three, after
extreme inconvenience caused by the islands' dissolution, eventually
catch the train, but it halts when Riley falls asleep, and then
it derails entirely with the collapse of another island. Afraid
that all the core memories will become sad, Joy abandons Sadness
and tries to ride a "recall tube" back to the Headquarters, but
the ground below the tube collapses, breaking it and sending Joy
and Bing Bong plunging into the Memory Dump. After discovering
a sad memory that turned happy in Riley's parents' comfort to
her, Joy understands Sadness's purpose: alerting others when Riley
is emotionally overwhelmed and needs help. Joy and Bing Bong try
to use Bing Bong's old wagon rocket, which gets energy when the
rider sings, to escape the Memory Dump, but are unable to fly
high enough due to their combined weight. On their last attempt,
Bing Bong jumps out to allow Joy to escape as he fades away.
Review: This
is a particularly good film for young people. It deals with the
many emotions that can and do occur during puberty. The film can
be watched by both adults and children with the plan to open up
and encourage conversations. I especially appreciated the way
that sad emotions can be seen as natural and in positive ways.
That there will always be a need for a healthy balance of all
emotions. One of the films I'm happy to suggest.