Emotionally Stimulating: Inside Out

Have you eer wondered what goes on in a child's head as far as emotions on a daily basis? Well Disney Pixar "Inside Out" did just that! This movie took a leap into the mind of a child that was forced to relocate to San Francisco leaving her childhood memories, friendships and the center of happiness a distant memory in Minnesota. This movie was exciting with some bizarre twist and turns but very imaginative for the child so they can comprehend visually. It also created things for adults to think about when dealing with a child. Pixar did an excellent job translating a deep message using top quality animation and a state of the art production system.

As a former educator of emotional support children, I watched with the perspective and theory of the 8 stages of development created by Erik Erikson but focusing on the first 4 which basically deals with trust and hope, will, finding purpose and competency of the child in the early years of life. "Inside Out" displays with many emotions but focuses on 5 as the main characters which consist of Sadness, Disgust, Anger, Fear and Joy.

The characters Joy and Sadness battles it out when they are forced to work together in a situation that is out of their comfort zone with the little girl Riley. While Riley is dealing with her new environment, her ability to cope deminishes and takes a turn for the worst and ultimately, Anger takes over her conscience and controls her actions in the Headquarters (Brain) control by a console. While Anger is now the center of logic, it is backed with Disgust and Fear which are also negative emotions. With those combinations, it forces Riley to make a harsh and abnormal decision to run away from home because things aren't functioning the same mentally.

While I don't want to give away the storyline, it is something that makes children as well as adults communicate more effectively with each other. As a minor observation, I accompanied 3 children ages 5, 7 and 14 along with another adult. By the end of the movie, the perspectives changed with oldest child and the parent, while the younger one watched the animation side of it mainly and the middle aged one expressed how emotions in your body helps you to feel and showed the difference in each emotion. The movie created a rollercoaster in a positive manner and in return, it could help in future events with dealing with people in general, not just children.

I give the director and production team 5 stars and I highly recommend this movie to every household.

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