Inside Out reviews: Sequel gives film critics mixed emotions

Pixar had underwhelming responses to a number of recent releases including Elemental, Onward and Toy Story spin-off Lightyear.

Vulture Alison Willmore, external wrote that Turning Red was a better film “about the messiness of adolescence”.

“What stops Inside Out 2 from matching that film’s insights is its own format, which its subject matter has outgrown,” she wrote.

And IndieWire’s David Ehrlich, external lamented that the film feels artificial and formulaic – “more like a corporate spreadsheet than a glimpse into a real person’s brain”.

“It’s a story about the universal chaos of adolescence told by a studio that once prided itself on being original, but now – after suffering a little public embarrassment – shares every teenager’s mortal fear of being different,” he wrote.

“Like Riley, Pixar seems determined to forget what made it so special in the first place. Here’s hoping that Inside Out 3 leaves plenty of room for Regret.”

Inside Out 2 is in cinemas from Friday, 14 June.