Inside Out 2 Ending & Why It's A Good Life Lesson Explained By Director Summary New emotions like Envy and Ennui add depth to Riley's growth, providing amusing quotes in Inside Out Anxiety's high-energy and chaotic introduction brings memorable humor and character dynamics to the sequel. Joy's realization about Joy dwindling with age provides a heartfelt and relatable moment in Inside Out 2. SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
Inside Out 2 has many endearing and amusing quotes throughout its 1-hour and 36-minute run time. Releasing in theaters this past weekend, Inside Out 2 has impressed audiences with its balance of humor and heart. While the Inside Out 2 reviews admit that the film does not pack the same punch as the first movie did in 2015, the reviews for Inside Out 2 are still positive overall, as critics and audiences alike are impressed with how gracefully the sequel was able to follow-up the beloved first film.
New Emotion
Actor
Anxiety
Maya Hawke
Envy
Ayo Edebiri
Embarrassment
Paul Walter Hauser
Ennui
Adèle Exarchopoulos
Nostalgia
June Squibb
Part of what makes Inside Out 2 stand out from its predecessor is its introduction of new characters. As Riley ages and starts to develop a strong Sense of Self and internal belief system, the new emotions of Envy, Ennui, Embarrassment, and Anxiety start to rattle what had become so fundamental to her. With the introduction of said new character comes a host of emotional and amusing quotes that help keep Inside Out 2 memorable.
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10 "Oh My Gosh! I'm Anxiety. Where Can I Put My Stuff?" Anxiety
This quote arrives in the first third of Inside Out 2, when the new characters are first introduced. Anxiety's introduction is characteristically high-energy and chaotic, as she races onto the screen with her arms outstretched, carrying a smattering of suitcases. These suitcases are the literal "baggage" that Anxiety carries with her, physicalizing this part of the emotion. The baggage joke was originally supposed to come from a Guilt character, who was one of the emotions cut for the final version.
Ultimately awarding that baggage to Anxiety, this line is wrapped up in the most memorable character introduction in the film. The cadence of this quote, from the excited "oh my gosh!" to the up-inflected logistical question establishes the pace of Anxiety's thoughts as a character, which will form the rhythm of the rest of the movie. The quote's associated image is also an easily recognizable part of Inside Out 2, as it is an image that has been circling since the Inside Out 2 trailers.
9 "Anxiety Would Have A Plan For That." Fear
While Anxiety is dominating Headquarters, Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust go on their journey to the back of Riley's mind. In it, they uncover new elements such as Deep Dark Secret, Sar-chasm, and the wild world of the Stream of Consciousness -- which in Inside Out 2 is a river whose current carries everything from broccoli to deep regrets. As they struggle to navigate these new challenges, Fear drones on about how much better prepared Anxiety would be for these challenges.
This simple line does heavy lifting in showing the relationship between Fear and Anxiety, and the omnipresence of Anxiety as she takes over Riley's mind. One typically experiences Anxiety and fear as connected emotions, serving, as a line discussed below elaborates on, to protect humans from the elements of life both visible and invisible. Inside Out 2 must overcome the challenge of making Fear and Anxiety seem connected while they are physically separated in Riley's mind, and this line helps bridge that gap.
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8 "Remember When We All Finally Came Up To Headquarters?""That Was Like 30 Seconds Ago, Nostalgia." Nostalgia & Ennui
Appearing twice in the film, Nostalgia is a supporting character in Inside Out 2. As in the case of Guilt, she was on the cutting room floor for the main emotion characters in Inside Out 2, but ultimately made the final cut for a couple of brief cameos. As she peeps out of a hideyhole door in headquarters, Nostalgia's opening line is amusingly over-sentimental, reminiscing on a scene that happened moments before.
This line pairs finely with Ennui's dry-humored response, as Ennui is already so done with Nostalgia when she even walks into the room. The comedic timing of this dialogue works well for the audience. On the one hand, Ennui's excessive boredom and sarcastic attitude are supposed to bleed through her words in this line, but her over-it attitude is more understandable here, as the audience did watch the scene in question occur fewer than 30 seconds earlier. The interaction does a great job of acting as both a comedic beat and a great establishment of Ennui's character.
7 "Welp, There's A Preview Of The Next 10 Years." Riley's Mom's Anger
As in the case of Inside Out, the sequel occasionally departs from Riley's head to enter the minds of the film's supporting characters, including Riley's Mom, Riley's Dad, Grace, and Brie. One such moment occurs in reaction to Riley's breakdown about hockey camp, wherein she screams out "I'm the WORST." The whole sequence leading to the launch into Riley's Mom's brain is a universal moment that both parents and older teens can understand, as it sees Riley facing a sudden onslaught of puberty-fueled angst.
The response from "Mom's Anger" is an amusing line that is relatable to many parents who have also watched their teenage daughters stumble through the turmoil of puberty. Riley's Mom's life flashes before her eyes in that moment, and not in a positive way. While Riley's emotions are swirling through headquarters, her mom's brain preemptively predicts the exasperation to come over the years, which is well-expressed in this line.
6 "Oh Yeah, I Loooove Get Up And Glow." Riley
It is the tone of this Riley line that makes it an essential piece of Inside Out 2. The moment occurs when Valentina and the other popular girls at hockey camp ask Riley what her favorite band is, to which she responds with the One Direction-like boy band Get Up and Glow. Learning this is uncool, Ennui takes hold of Headquarters to help Riley unlock the powers of Sar-chasm to cover up her social faux pas.
The sar-chams bit, where Riley's original emotions see a literal chasm open up that repeats back their dialogue in a mocking tone, is one of the more humorous parts of Inside Out 2, and Riley using sarcasm is a callback to that. The tone of this line shows Riley's nascent ability to use sarcasm, a tool that can be used both for ingratiation and hurt. In this scene, the line brilliantly does both as Riley kowtows to the popular girls but hurts Grace and Brie's feelings in the process.
5 "You Take Such Good Care Of Riley.""Thanks, I Try." Sadness & Joy
This interaction between Sadness and Joy shows a moment of tenderness between the two emotional characters. Joy's response line also highlights the beauty Inside Out 2 finds in its simplicity, breaking down complex emotional inner workings to their core. In other words, this pairing of lines represents Inside Out 2 doing what the Inside Out duology does best, in that its script is simple and comprehensible, but at the same time layered in its meaning.
Joy's response of "I try" reveals a lot about what people go through when trying to get by. At odds with more complex emotions, Joy and positivity work steadfastly to keep people, in this case Riley, afloat, but sometimes the best that they can do is simply try. Just these two words tacked-on speak volumes in the subtext, and it is this subtextual meaning that makes Inside Out 2 shine as a whole.
4 "I'm A Good Person. " Riley
This line exists as somewhat of an incantation for the beginning of the movie, as Riley's Sense of Self repeatedly assures her that she is a good person. The Sense of Self is physicalized by an interconnected web of elements that represent the self, which at the beginning of the movie, offers a strong and positive foundation to Riley. After Anxiety is introduced to Headquarters, however, Riley's well-formed Sense of Self is tossed to the wayside, and replaced by an orange-hued Sense of Self controlled by Anxiety.
The repeated line "I'm a good person" creates a soothing rhythm for the film's first act, so its absence is felt as Anxiety overtakes Headquarters. The rhythm of the film then transitions to a far more frenetic, uncontrolled pace as Anxiety takes over every aspect of Riley's mind. In Inside Out 2's ending, the "I'm a good person" line is revisited, but this time with a wider and more nuanced range of emotions interspersed within.
3 "You Have To Let Riley Go." Joy
This line occurs during the climax of Inside Out 2, where Riley has a panic attack while sitting in the penalty box. To stop Anxiety's literal swirling ball of energy from further spiraling out, Joy decided to meet Anxiety with kindness. She softly asks Anxiety to "let Riley go," ceding control of Headquarters. This is in essence asking Anxiety to undo the very thing that makes her function: control.
Though Joy and Anxiety had been at odds for the duration of Inside Out 2, this line is not in the least bit adversarial. Joy's warmth exudes through this line, encouraging the character to find comfort in release, ultimately working to break the chaotic spiral. The line so fundamentally expresses what Joy is as a character and as an emotion, making it one of the most potent in Inside Out 2.
2 "My Job Is To Protect Her From The Scary Stuff She Can't See. I Plan For The Future." Anxiety
While she is introduced in the mind of a young adolescent, Anxiety is a character that can relate to audiences of all ages. Adults and kids alike can understand one's desire to "plan for the future" in an attempt to dominate things that they ultimately cannot control. It is this desire for control that will have to be slowly undone, leading to more emotional lines later in the film.
This line also comes after Anxiety breaks down the role of all of Riley's key emotions, saying for example that Fear "protects her from the scary stuff she can see." Anxiety's contrasting role well-articulates how countless people experience feelings of Anxiety, contributing to Inside Out 2's strong themes. It is also another example of Inside Out 2's script doing heavy lifting to make the intangible tangible, as this line, and the monologue leading up to it, carefully deconstruct each Inside Out 2 emotion.
1 "Maybe This Is What Happens When You Grow Up. You Feel Less Joy." Joy
While there are emotional moments throughout Inside Out 2, Joy's realization that perhaps Riley's Joy is dwindling is the most gut-punching. It is a universal feeling that many people have upon the passing of years: that the youthful jubilance that they once had is fading away. While the Inside Out 2 conclusion indicates that Joy will never truly die, the thought of it diminishing is a painful one for Joy -- who in her own way, wants control as much as Anxiety does -- and for audiences as well.
It is also one of the first times in the film that the effusive spirit that Joy once had is turning into something closer to sadness. It is a huge shift for the otherwise-chipper character, thus further adding to the potency of the line. This feeling, and the statement itself, shows the complexity of emotion and its malleability over time.
Inside Out 2 PG Adventure Comedy Animation
Inside Out 2 is the sequel to the 2015 original film, which starred a young girl named Riley with a head full of emotions. - literally. With Amy Pohler as Joy, Bill Hader as fear, Mindy Kaling as Disgust, Phyllis Smith as Sadness, and Lewis Black as Anger, the all-star cast brought to life the emotions that adolescents face as they grow, change, and adapt to new situations. This sequel, currently in development, will bring Amy Pohler back as Joy, with Riley, now a teenager.
Director Kelsey Mann Release Date June 14, 2024 Studio(s) Disney Distributor(s) Disney Writers Meg LeFauve Cast Amy Poehler , Tony Hale , Maya Hawke , Liza Lapira , Lewis Black , Phyllis Smith , Diane Lane Runtime 96 Minutes Franchise(s) Disney prequel(s) Inside Out Main Genre Animation Expand
