Inside Out the Awards Race

Giving voice to a teenager's emotions in “Inside Out 2” are Lewis Black, Tony Hale, Liza Lapiria, Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Maya Hawke, Paul Walter Hauser and Ayo Edebiri. https://www.imdb.com/video/vi2360002073/?ref_=ext_shr_em Trailer and Photo by Pixar/PIXAR - © 2024 Disney/Pixar via IMDb.com. 

Last time we checked in with a little girl named Riley, she was dealing with the trauma of her family's move from Minnesota to San Francisco.

That was “Inside Out,” Pixar Studios' ingenious translation of billions of biochemical reactions in her brain into a wacky cartoon. It was brilliant, it was funny, it was touching. And everyone in your family, no matter how young or old, could find something to enjoy in it.

At a control panel in her brain – not unlike the set in the old TV version of “Star Trek” – emotions ranging from Joy (Amy Poehler) through Sadness (Phyllis Smith) to Anger (Lewis Black) – took turns managing how Riley (Kensington Tallman) was feeling at any particular moment.

Everything was running like clockwork – well, as close to smooth as emotions can get – until Riley turned 13 and a bunch of construction guys showed up to update the control panel. And right behind them came a clown car's worth of complicated new emotions led by Anxiety (Maya Hawke).

Welcome to Puberty!

Welcome to “Inside Out 2.”

Setting box office records when it opened – top grossing film of 2024 and top grossing animated film of all time – it mysteriously kept getting pushed to the back of my must-see list. But as awards season resumes in the ashes of the LA fires (twice-postponed Oscar nominations will be announced Thursday), I finally got around to it.

While Pixar's hopes for a Best Picture nomination may be a reach, “Inside Out 2” exceeds its predecessor with a deeper dive into our psyches. But it's just as entertaining, amusing and affecting. Audience members of any age will find something to identify with in its rollicking plot that takes Hope and her fellow feelings on an odyssey through Riley's brain, a colorful realm of stored recollections, fantasy projections, carnival thrill rides and a pool where memories grow like lilies in a pond.

Ice hockey is still Riley's passion as she transitions from middle school to high school. A lot of the film's action takes place on the ice where bonds with her two besties from middle school are tested when she's invited to join the coolest clique of high schoolers.

Along this perilous path, the writers find clever ways of addressing insecurity, competition, peer pressure and that frantic desire to fit in, well known to anyone who has ever been a teenager. 

When Anxiety or Envy are at the wheel, it's easy to understand the universal panic that attends this vulnerable leap from childhood into the great unknown.

Despite gazillions of experiments in clinical psych labs over the years, psychology has never been a precise science. Ever since Freud's contemporary, Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach, started showing his patients ink blots and asking what they saw, the so-called science has often relied on fanciful visual images more than mathematical equations to explain the workings of the mind. 

Dr. Kevin McCauley's cinematic exploration of alcohol addiction, “Pleasure Unwoven,” uses the dramatic geology and landscapes of Utah's national parks to represent the topography of the brain.

Pete Docter, who graduates from co-writer and director of the first film to the producer of “Inside Out 2,” along with his collaborators are among the greatest imaginers of how these things called emotions work. The most magical thing about “Inside Out 2” is just how much you find yourself caring for this loony bunch of 'toons. 

The moment all the emotions come together for a group hug to remind Riley what a good person she really is, is guaranteed to touch the emotions of everyone watching in the audience.

Speaking of movie awards …

Compared to the mighty voters of the Motion Pictures Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Hawaii Film Critics Society is more like the Little Engine That Could. But on the eve of the Oscar nominations, here are the HFCS awards for the year just ended.

While I don't agree with all the group's choices, we are all on the same page at least. It's been my honor to be part of the HFCS, and a pleasure to pay for my membership with the reviews in this blog. 

BEST PICTURE: “The Brutalist” (dir. Brady Corbet) 

BEST DIRECTOR: Robert Eggers, “Nosferatu” 

BEST ACTOR: Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist” 

BEST ACTRESS: Demi Moore, “The Substance” 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain” 

BEST SUPPORTIONG ACTRESS: Monica Barbaro, “A Complete Unknown” 

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Jesse Eisenberg, “A Real Pain” 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Peter Straughan (based on the novel “Conclave” by Robert Harris) “Conclave” 

BEST EDITING: Juliette Welfling, “Emilia Pérez” 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Lol Crawley, “The Brutalist” 

BEST ART DIRECTION: “Wicked” 

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: “Wicked” 

BEST ANIMATED FILM: “The Wild Robot” (dir. Chris Sanders) 

BEST DOCUMENTARY: “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” (dir. Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui) 

BEST MAKE-UP: “The Substance” 

BEST SOUND: “Nosferatu”

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Daniel Blumberg, “The Brutalist” 

BEST SONG: “El Mal,” “Emilia Pérez” 

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: “Wicked” 

BEST STUNT WORK: “The Fall Guy”

BEST NEW FILMMAKER: Rachel Morrison, “The Fire Inside”

BEST FIRST FILM: “The Fire Inside” (dir. Rachel Morrison) 

BEST OVERLOOKED FILM: “Hit Man” (dir. Richard Linklater) 

BEST VOCAL/MOTION CAPTURE PERFORMANCE: Kevin Durand, “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” 

BEST HORROR FILM: “Nosferatu” (dir. Robert Eggers) 

BEST COMIC BOOK MOVIE: “Deadpool & Wolverine” (dir. Shawn levy) 

BEST SCI-FI FILM: “The Substance” (dir. Coralie Fargeat) 

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: “Emilia Pérez” (dir. Jacques Audiard) (France) 

BEST HAWAIIAN FILM: “The Queen’s Flowers” (dir. Ciara Lacy) (Oahu) 

WORST FILM OF 2024: “Madame Web” (dir. S.J. Clarkson)