Animated films are generally believed to be entertainment for young ones, depicting stories of cartoon characters and their adventurous lives that appeal to kids. Children can dive into a world of an imaginary life and go on their exciting journey to the unknown. But for some movies there is more than that, as they convey meaning that goes unnoticed at first glance. Such is the case with Inside Out, an Oscar-winning animated film directed by Peter Docter. Despite presenting the life of an ordinary family who is about to move house, Inside Out concentrates on human emotions that put this family into action.

Back to when she was 11, Riley Andersen and her parents move from Minnesota to San Francisco for the reason that her father gets a new job. Although Riley misses the time in her hometown, she tries to look on the bright side of the move. The reality, however, turns out to be quite the nightmare: the house looks like a dump, their belongings are lost on the way, her father gets overworked, and pizza, which Riley adores, happens to be inedible! It looks like her life can’t get any worse.

At the same time, Riley’s life is portrayed from within her mind. There, since she was born, five personifications of her emotions – Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust and Anger – have been orchestrating her life the way each of them individually wants, which often results in the emotional rollercoaster of Riley’s life. Apart from pure emotions, the film reveals the complexity of the human brain, namely: long-term memory, imagination, abstract thoughts and subconsciousness.

The two worlds – outside and inside – overlap throughout the film, showing us that our outer actions are in fact dictated by our inner emotions. The interesting thing is that not only joy, as we might think, but all our emotions are positive, no matter how negatively we can look at sadness, fear, disgust or anger. There can be no joy without sadness, as sadness is the opposite of it. Our life would constantly be at risk if we didn’t feel fear in dangerous situation. We couldn’t admire the beauty of life if we were unable to feel disgust at the ugliness around us. And finally, we would know no calm if we never felt anger in our heart.

Inside Out is without a doubt an intelligent and riveting film for viewers of all ages. In addition to its top quality animation and a surprisingly great sense of humour, the film makes us realise that our life always depends on our attitude to it. In other words, our life is as we see it, because the way we think creates the world around us.

Dictionary:
depict – przedstawiać
appeal to – podobać się (komuś)
dive into – zanurzyć się w
convey – przekazywać
go unnoticed – pozostać niezauważonym
at first glance – na pierwszy rzut oka
nightmare – koszmar
dump – nora, dziura
belongings – dobytek, mienie
inedible – niejadalny
orchestrate – zaaranżować
reveal – ujawniać
subconsciousness – podświadomość
overlap – zachodzić na siebie
outer / inner – zewnętrzny / wewnętrzny
admire – podziwiać
without a doubt – bez wątpienia
riveting – bardzo interesujący
realise – zdawać sobie sprawę
attitude – nastawienie