{"id":22906,"date":"2015-08-28T14:53:08","date_gmt":"2015-08-28T06:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifestinymiracles.com\/?p=22906"},"modified":"2019-05-24T08:30:11","modified_gmt":"2019-05-24T00:30:11","slug":"review-of-inside-out-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifestinymiracles.com\/2015\/08\/review-of-inside-out-movie\/","title":{"rendered":"A Review of Inside Out\u2026from a Parent Outside In"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve not done movie reviews for a while but for this movie, I\u2019m willing to make an exception because, as parents, there are some really good takeaways from the show. <\/p>\n

Is it suitable for children?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There has been some talk online by concerned parents if the show would be recommended for children. And if so, from how old? Given that it is an animation with cute characters, lots of bright colours and plenty of humour and animated slapstick antics, yes. Kids of all ages will be quite entertained but if so why the concern? A synopsis would be appropriate beforehand.<\/p>\n

\"INSIDE-OUT-18(1)\"<\/p>\n

Synopsis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Inside Out traces the development of a young girl (Riley)\u2019s emotions right from birth to pre-teen.  Joy (the protagonist), Sadness, Disgust, Fear and Anger – the 5 emotions form part of the child\u2019s core memories as well as general memories. Collectively, these memories then form the child\u2019s personality. In Riley’s case, it was represented by 4 main \u2018islands\u2019 – Family (her parents), Hockey (her talents), Friendship (her childhood friends) and Goofball Islands (the fun and wacky moments she had with her parents).<\/p>\n

\"INSIDE-OUT-18(2)\"<\/p>\n

Joy, the domineering emotion usually takes charge and rarely allows the other emotions to play any part in Riley’s life. However, after the family\u2019s sudden move to bustling San Francisco, Joy and Sadness were accidentally deactivated and they struggled to find their way back to the control center (i.e. Riley’s mind). The rest of the emotions \u2013 Fear, Disgust and Anger now had free reign to manage Riley. Immediately, we see a transformation – from a cheerful, confident and caring girl, Riley became moody and temperamental which took her parents by surprise.<\/p>\n

\"Film<\/p>\n

These mood changes caused Riley, all of 11 years old, to steal from her mother to buy a bus ticket to run away from her new home in San Francisco back to Minnesota (her original hometown) in a bid to find happiness again. This is what some parents are concerned about \u2013 for their kids to see a young child on the big screen, stealing and attempting to run away from home.  I can understand the hesitance: how do we explain to our children that this is not the right behaviour? Thankfully, that particular scene was relatively short, paced quickly and ended with the family reconciling.<\/p>\n

\"Inside-Out-Japan-Pixar-Post-3\"<\/p>\n

How We Managed:<\/strong><\/p>\n

We brought 7 year-old Dana to watch the movie with us. She thoroughly enjoyed it. When it came to the stealing and running-away scene, we let her watch through it as part of the whole movie experience. We did not interrupt as we wanted her to appreciate the context in which Riley made the ‘mistake’. After the movie, we discussed about the 4 islands Riley had and asked Dana to share with us which islands were present and important in her life too.  We also contextualised Riley’s dishonest act by helping her see that when we are angry, we often make the wrong decisions (or say the wrong words).  It also helps that ever since Dana entered Primary 1 this year, she had to make some tough decisions on her own in school in our absence (some were right and others not) so we used those situations she had been through to help her empathize with the emotions Riley experienced.<\/p>\n

\"Riley-inside-out\"<\/p>\n

During our car ride home, our conversation went something like this:<\/p>\n