Podcast Episode 62: INSIDE OUT Is Beautiful, Animated Melancholy

As promised, here's the second podcast of the week, just under the wire.

Pixar's latest animated masterpiece is Inside Out, the story of an eleven year old girl named Riley and all the personified emotions that live within her head(quarters).  Pete Doctor has crafted a virtual wonderland of both sharp wit and deep pathos, filled with amazing visual gags, clever wordplay and vital philosophy. It is a marvelous bit of writing on pretty much every level, from the characters to the story to the world building to the themes.  It's also a remarkably mature script, laying out every detail clearly and distinctly without ever managing to talk down to the audience.  You also have to admire any children's film whose central message is telling kids that sometimes it's okay to be sad.  That the movie can manage to effectively convey that message while also being completely hilarious is all the more impressive.

This is another one of those podcast episodes that I'm particularly proud of, as Jamie, Jeff and I spend the majority of the running time analyzing not just what's happening on screen, but why it's happening.  Inside Out is basically the anti-Jurassic World: theme and character are just as important as the story here and the film is practically begging you to leave the theater talking about this stuff, while also listing off your favorite parts of Riley's mind world.  I'm an Abstract Thought guy myself, although Dream Productions is a close second.  We also talk about our favorite Pixar films and I take a brief diversion to analyze why Paul Feig's movies don't appeal to me as much as they probably should.

As always, be sure to subscribe to the podcast using iTunes, SoundCloud or some other app I haven't heard of yet.

Next Week: Terminator: Salvation and Big Game!