Okay, so yesterday I finally did something right. With me hungover as all fuck, little Obo came over, first at 10 a.m. to originally to wake me up, then at 11:30 again to re-wake me up. He was insistant that I "spend the day with him", so I shook off the fact I was hungover as all fuck, bucked up and delivered--as good uncle's do!
Yes, I did give up drinking--for a week and a half, but working in 90+ degree heat basically lumping freight as fast as humanly possible FINALLY wore me down got me back into drinking again... I'll cool it, starting now, and hopefully won't drink any more booze for a while, but after Thursday I really needed a drink.
Anyway, now THAT confessional is through let's get into the crux of this post. So Obo really wanted to watch Pixar's "Inside Out" (2015: voices of Amy Poehler, Phyliss Smith, Richard Kind). And as we've already established I am no longer the drunk bum, but now trying to be a good uncle sooo... we went and saw this movie.
Going into this movie I bought Obo a big bucket of popcorn, Junior Mints and a medium Coke, which we both shared. Going into this movie I expressed worry that sitting through an entire movie might be too much for Brycen to endure, as he's only 7 years old, and when he's at the house he's all over the place running around. But Obo was able to sit through the whole movie. Didn't fidgit. Was just stone cold silently eatting popcorn, his Junior Mints and sipping on the Coke occassionally. He did sit through the whole movie, BUT he didn't laugh ONCE. About 1/3 of the way into the movie, I asked this 7 year old if he liked the movie or not, and he said he thought it was "weird". Later at about 2/3 of the way through "Inside Out", I asked Obo if he liked the movie, and he told me he wanted to go and not even finish the movie. Thankfully, I presisted and MADE him sit through to the end of the movie.
So was Obo in th e minority? And by that I mean the only little kid who didn't laugh during "Inside Out"? No. NONE of the little kids in the Bonney Lake Multiplex laughed. None of them. The adults did though! Yes, the adults laughed A LOT during this movie, "Inside Out". And this was a real head scratcher for me for the better part of day, untill I came to an epifany of the human condition.
So what is "Inside Out" about?
Glad you asked. This movie has the. MOST. APPROPRIATE. AND MOVING. STORY. That I can remember seeing at movie in the longest time. This movie is all about how a little girl changes as the result of a traumatic movie to a new city. Its theme deals with how a little kid's emotions help them deal with traumatic changes in their lives. I cannont say enough of how impressed I am with Pixar and Disney for taking on this kind of universally appealing story and them, and expressing it in a comedic and dramatic way at the same time.
That said, NONE of the little kids laughed while this show was playing, and for the better part of a day, that bothered me a lot, because I really liked this movie.
So why did I, the adult like this movie so much? Well, that's easy. I just loved the GENIOUS way that Pixar explored how our emotions actually work together to help us get through life. Riley, the cartoon girl heroine in this story, has her world ripped appart when her father moves their family from Minnesota to San Fransisco. The story, however, spends most of its time inside of Riley's head where four emotions: Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyliss Smith from NBC's "The Office"), Digust and Anger work an Starship Enterprise-esque console which oversees Riley's life. Memories are handled there. And the lead emotion, Joy, wants all of Riley's memories to be golden and happy ones. Unfortunately, with Riley's world changing more and more sadness creeps in, which worries all the emotions that work the console.
This movie is just genious. The storehouses of marble memories, the theme parks which represent Riley's word: family, goof time, friendship, and values. As the story progesses the emotion of Sadness touches more and more things of Riley's core memories and this worries Joy and sets her on a oddessy quest through the rest of the world which shapes Riley's mental outlook.
Maybe I'm not explaining it right, but this movie is just GENIOUS. It goes inside a child's head and attempts to expain some coping skills in a humorus way. I just love how Phyllis Smith's Sadness character becomes intrical to helping Riley get through this traumatic time. You wanna see genious storytelling, it's here folks. Don't judge the package. Go see this movie. Trust me, I think adults will be moved by this movie, MAYBE more than the kids. I laughed a lot in this movie. It is exceptional. I'd give this movie a solid 9.0 out of 10. Best movie I've seen so far in 2015.
So how do I justify this against the kids rather mute, rote handling of this movie?
It took me a day, but now I know:
Children watch movies and most progams in learning mode
Wanna see kids laugh? Let them play outside together, where their zest for life naturally manifests.
Children are in a near constant state of learning. Watch them watching TV an they tend to be silent. Why? Because they're watching, observing and learning.
Now I asked Obo after the movie what this "Inside Out" was all about, and he said it was about emotions. This seven year old then proceeded to inact Anger, and beat against me and laugh. This recent graduate of the 1st grade HAD already processed this movie and now was ready to play with what he had seen in his own unique way.
I told him my honest impression of this movie, and then he parroted me and said he liked the movie too. Uncle had done right, taken his nephew to the movies, shown him some preferential treatment and now Obo was mimicking me.
So think about my epihpany when you watch movies with children. Their silence may not mean they didn't like the movie. It may just mean their really watching the movie, annnddd learning! Silence may not mean everything is going over the kid's heads either. During the movie I heard a little girl across the isle acurately stating what was going on in the movie. Just no laughing.
Kids are not adults. They process things in a different way than adults do. I'm now a HUGE fan of Pixar. This gem of a movie sold me on them. They are good people and they know how to handle kid relatable subjects, make them fun for adults to sit through, and most improtantly help developing minds process challenging circumstances in a safe place--their movie!
Before I end this rave. Lemme just give a special shout-out to Phyliss Smith. GREAT job casting her in the role of Sadness. There was something about her voice that got me. By the end of the movie that character had me eatting out of the palm of her hand.
Anywho, adult or child, go see Disney/Pixar's "Inside Out" this is an OUTSTANDING movie that is worth the price of admission, and be you adult or child will give you something to think about long after this movie is over.
- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA
P.S. Over this past weekend I did go out to see "Ted 2" (2015: Seth McFarlene, Mark Wahlberg, Amanda Seyfried), will post on that in a later post.
P.S.S. Had a real cool character ephany for the epic fantasy novel I'm editing this past week. Will be posting something about that soon.