Not a bad movie by any means, but I was disappointed that the core plot was as formulaic as it was. 75% of the movie is basically the Candy Kingdom from Wreck-It-Ralph with a neuroscience coat of paint (which is really fucking cool, I dont want to diminish that).
The other 25% was an excellent film. I got misty a couple times throughout just because it touches on so much of what it means to grow up and be human. Some things it got very right:
- it was neat seeing everyone else's brains in action, and the subtle differences between them. I also really appreciated Peter Sagal's brief cameo!
- her imaginary friend was about as archetypical as possible, but his scene where he helps Joy was simply perfect.
- the moral (and tone) of the film was up there with Pixar's best, and Id like to think it will not only help some kids grow up understanding its okay to feel a range of emotions and change as they get older, but also get them interested (and compassionate!) about brain chemistry
That said, I thought the last scene of the movie suffered from talking us through what was happening. We as an audience already know what is happening, all of the visual cues have been established (so well!) and its pretty clear what things are leading up to. I was annoyed they fell back on dialogue.
This is the same company that gave us the opening of Up, and the dance sequence from Wall-E. They can convey a huge range of emotion through their animation - its actually the biggest testament to their skill when they do. Was really bummed by how much talking there was. Contrast that scene with Joys skating scene and its not like they dont know how
Review: not their best (best three are Up, Wall-E and Ratatouille), but certainly really good!