Continuing my countdown of every Pixar movie…
#6. Inside Out (2015)
(no change from previous ranking)
Inside Out followed a trio of mediocre Pixar films (Cars 2, Brave and Monsters University), making viewers’ first reaction relief that the studio hadn’t lost it.
Far from it. This movie is thrillingly inventive, taking the somewhat familiar idea of “people inside your head” and exploding it with visual and thematic ingenuity.
Amy Poehler and Phyllis Smith deliver wonderful performances as Joy and Sadness, two personified emotions inside the mind of a pre-teen girl, Riley. The film explores how those feelings are really two sides of the same coin, and has one of the most touching resolutions in any Pixar film.
I love the attention paid to Riley’s family. You really get a feel for their dynamic (and the glimpse into Mom and Dad’s own brains is hilarious).
Visually, Inside Out is a feast. Memories are depicted as glowing glass orbs that file in as they’re created, then get shuttled off to long-term memory. The ominous Memory Dump is where these orbs go once they’re forgotten, and it’s the setting for one of the film’s most sad and powerful moments. We love you, Bing Bong!
Inside Out is quintessential Pixar. It depicts a fantastic world with charming specificity, makes resonant emotional points about the human condition, and does it all with smart and unexpected humor.
Meet Me In Montauk 
This is one I really should see again. It would likely be in my top tier as well (though not higher than Toy Story!)
Absolutely love Inside Out and agree with everything you said! Well ranked. 🙂 The scene where Riley realizes her memories can have multiple emotions coexisting within them makes me cry every single time. I’m tearing up just writing this lol
This was a special film for us, as we saw it in a big splashy premiere, complete with special passes that I still have to this day. Daniel and I sobbed our way through the Bing Bong scene, Daniel so desperately that I was taken out of the film a bit, first with concern and then amusement. Still, because the kids we’re older when it came out, it never became one of those films that plays on repeat at home. I may have seen it a second time, but I certainly don’t know its ins and outs, as I do my favorite a Pixar films.
Anybody who knows me knows how emotionally attached I was to Bing Bong and how affected I was by his beautiful sacrifice. Although that is the part of the movie that sticks out to me and no other Pixar scene, maybe even scene period, has resonated with me as much as that one, the entire movie is top tier. Such a creative concept. Pixar always finds a way to comment on human behavior through some other medium whether it’s toys, cars, monsters, or in this case the most direct way so far: feelings. Viewing this movie with the recent mental health awareness day, I think this movie is so important for kids growing up realizing it’s okay to not be joyful all the time, that we are stronger because our moments and memories are a mixture of all of our emotions. This film encourages everybody to not shy away from their emotions and I find the thought that even one kid might have found comfort or strength in the handling of their obstacles through this film incredibly touching. Top tier for sure.