The first trailer for Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” was released this morning. There’s a new character added into the mix, Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke, and they look like an amusing addition to the plot.
Since 2016, writer-director Pete Docter has been assembling ideas for an “Inside Out” sequel. Disney officially began the development with the D23 Expo announcement in 2022. Kelsey Mann took over as the sequel's director and implemented Docter's ideas.
So, no Docter directing could be seen as a red flag. Also, original writers Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen are not part of the writing team for this sequel. Meg LaFauve, who co-wrote the first one with Docter and Del Carmen, is now the sole and main writer for the sequel.
2015’s “Inside Out” was the last great movie released by Pixar, although some could make the argument that 2017’s “Coco” and/or 2020’s “Soul” also attained some sort of greatness.
Fixing Pixar should be top priority at Disney. Firstly, they dumped their movies straight to Disney+ during the pandemic, which devalued the brand and trained audiences to ignore their theatrical releases.
Add to that the issues they’ve had on the creative side: none of their recent releases have really quite hit the cultural zeitgeist since 2017’s “Coco.” Then there’s the tepid response their upcoming “Elemental” received with critics (although it did end up having some legs at the box-office).
The inventive nature in their older classics has gone away. It’s all surface-level stuff now. They are making overstylized films with none of the risk-taking involved. The last several movies have been nothing more than cynical attempts to hit specific emotional buttons. Hopefully’ “Inside Out 2” puts them back on track.
“Inside Out 2” is scheduled for release on June 14, 2024.