I’ve always been able to express my emotions easily. Just one quick glance at my face and you’d know what I was feeling at any given moment. I was what others called ‘sensitive’ and would easily cry, sometimes for what seemed like nothing. My daughter has also inherited this trait and wears her emotions for all to see.
But one thing I didn’t know most times was why I was feeling the way I did. Now Joy was easy. I knew why I was happy, excited, etc. But Sadness? Sometimes it’d just hit me like a wave and I had no idea what to expect.
With my daughter being so similar to me, I have always wanted her to know how to talk about her emotions so she can try and express why she’s feeling a certain way. Especially once she reaches her pre-teen and teen years. And after attending a screening of Inside Out in June, she’s been even more apt to talk about emotions with me. Hopefully this will continue as she grows and changes.
When I asked my daughter about the movie, and to tell me what it was about, she said, “Inside Out is a movie about the emotions inside Riley’s head. Sadness, Joy, Anger, Disgust, and Fear. And they get kinda mixed up so we follow them along until they make it right.”
At 4 she was able to identify with the emotions in the movie and with how Riley was feeling. And while my husband thought the middle of the movie was a bit slow, she kept up with it and soaked up everything.
After watching the movie in theaters in June she asked to buy an Inside Out read along book at the book store. And every day since then she has me play the CD in the car as she reads along to the story. To say she’s obsessed is an understatement. Now that she owns the movie, she couldn’t be more happy. She can now watch it over and over! If that’s not validation of a good movie, I don’t know what is!
A little background on Inside Out:
Based in Headquarters, the control center inside 11-year-old Riley’s mind, five Emotions are hard at work, led by lighthearted optimist Joy (voice of Amy Poehler), whose mission is to make sure Riley stays happy. Fear (voice of Bill Hader) heads up safety, Anger (voice of Lewis Black) ensures all is fair and Disgust (voice of Mindy Kaling) prevents Riley from getting poisoned—both physically and socially. Sadness (voice of Phyllis Smith) isn’t exactly sure what her role is, and frankly, neither is anyone else.
When Riley’s family relocates to a scary new city, the Emotions are on the job, eager to help guide her through the difficult transition. But when Joy and Sadness are inadvertently swept into the far reaches of Riley’s mind— taking some of her core memories with them—Fear, Anger and Disgust are left reluctantly in charge. Joy and Sadness must venture through unfamiliar places—Long Term Memory, Imagination Land, Abstract Thought and Dream Productions—in a desperate effort to get back to Headquarters, and Riley.
Will you be grabbing a copy of Inside Out for your kids next Tuesday?
INSIDE OUT is on Blu-ray® 3D, Blu-ray® Combo Pack and On Demand this Tuesday, November 3rd
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