David Farnor | On 15, Dec 2024

Inside Out is the gift that keeps on giving. Pixar’s inspired metaphor for exploring emotional wellbeing as a young girl comes of age has already spawned an inventive sequel. Now, it’s hit the small screen, with a thoughtful comedy that makes 12-year-old Riley’s inner workings even more expansive.

The wider premise is blissfully untouched: Riley’s mind is steered by a group of conflicting feelings, including Joy, Anger, Fear, Disgust and Sadness, as well as (introduced in Inside Out 2) Anxiety, Ennui, Envy and Embarrassment. This four-part series takes us one level down within this meta-metaphor, as we’re introduced properly to Dream Productions – the studio that, as you might guess, writes and produces Riley’s dreams to help her process her memories, worries and hopes.

A longstanding director in the movie-like studio is Paula Persimmon (Paula Pell), who has been trying to continue her run of hit dreams. The only problem? The hit dreams are from when Riley (Kensington Tallman) was younger and characters such as Cupcake Twins and Rainbow Unicorn don’t have the same appeal with the now-teen-aged Riley. With the studio boss Jean (Maya Rudolph) looking to put her out pasture, Paula gets increasingly desperate to impress – while also worrying that her assistant director, Janelle (Ally Maki), will go solo surpass her. Meanwhile, Jean’s decision to give her pretentious nephew, Xeni (Richard Ayoade), a job as a new assistant director only adds to the chaos.

What ensues is a delightful romp that gently satirised Hollywood and its relationship with indie filmmakers. But it’s deeper, and funnier, that that, as showrunner Mike Jones uses that framework to dive into questions of ego and creativity. Paula Pell is wonderfully heartfelt as would-be mentor who has to put her selfishness to one side and appreciate the others around her, while Richard Ayoade steals every scene going as the hilarious Xeni – “There’s no camera any more! Only vision!”.

The animation is superbly creative, ranging from nostalgic, Golden Age-worthy set pieces to a scribbled drawing of Riley’s teenage self who scrappily serves coffees to people. Woven into the deft world-building is a dizzying hierarchy of dreams, daydreams and brain-farts that’s worthy of Christopher Nolan’s Inception. As the witty ensemble learn to put Riley’s agency and passions at the top of their call sheet, the result echoes Inside Out and Inside Out 2’s profound tales of self-care and inner understanding – and leaves you dreaming of more.

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