Inside Out

The latest offering from the prolific Pixar machine, like quite a few Cannes titles, deals with problems in the family but there any similarity ends.

Riley (voiced by Kaitlyn Dias) is a young girl who is being uprooted from her life in the Midwest when her father gets a new job in San Francisco. Moving on means leaving behind friends and familiarity.

Director Peter Docter has conveniently labelled all the emotions which guide her behaviour: Amy Poehler speaks for Joy; Bill Hader incarnates Fear, Lewis Black punts for Anger, Mindy Kaling sums up Disgust and Phyillis Smith deals with Sadness. Riley’s parents are voiced by Diane Ladd and Kyle McLachlan.

And where do we find all these emotions? They’re in the control centre Headquarters which resides (guess where?) in Riley’s mind.

The girl has a surfeit of optimism which means that Joy is the emotion that keeps the others at bay. Naturally, while coping with new surroundings, friends and situations, there is a bit of a turmoil going on.

As usual with Pixar the film operates on twin levels - with one part going straight over the heads and minds of its junior target audience and the other heading directly to their parents. It’s a neat balancing trick if you can get away with it and Pixar, of course, are masters of the art.