Smart Parenting Review: Inside Out 2 Has Something For The Whole Fam

This is a spoiler-free article.

For parents who take the time to understand and explain emotions to their kids, Inside Out (2015) is pretty much a hack. I would daresay that for those of us who were not taught to deal with all our own emotions (cue: “Stop crying! Papangit ka” comments) and may only be learning as a parent, the movie is both cathartic and is media that can be used in parenting.

My three children (ages 4, 9, and 11) enjoyed the first installment, with the two older ones grasping the big idea of the movie better than when they first saw it years ago. Now that we periodically use emotion cards to help talk about how we’re feeling, my kids continuously learn that all emotions are valid. And that’s a lesson we’ve taken away from the first installment too: Even negative emotions (like Sadness [Phyllis Smith]) serve a purpose and should not be repressed.

It almost felt like kismet for our family that Inside Out 2 (2024) is tackling the big P, “pooberty”, as Disgust pronounces it. With most of my kids ending or finishing grade school and at the cusp of puberty, I thought of the movie as a means of starting a big and ongoing conversation with less work.

Inside Out 2: A family review

Here are three reasons to watch Inside Out 2 with the whole family.

1. There’s something for everyone.

Some of my parent friends felt the Inside Out franchise is mostly for older children and while I agree that the lessons fit them better, my toddler still thoroughly enjoyed watching the movie. Maybe it’s the cinema experience, or enjoying something with Ate and Kuya. But if, like my family, you have a younger child, go ahead and take them with you! They will still enjoy the movies’ jokes and antics. And you can just rewatch the movies when it’s their turn to hit puberty.

Families with only toddlers or young kids can still enjoy Inside Out 2 as a fun, family-bonding experience that doesn’t cost too much. As we have learned from the first franchise, building memories is big for the kids. This one is Smart Parenting approved and parents, it’s not a movie you’ll catch yourself having to just get through in the name of being present. We promise, you’ll take away a thing or two! (There’s something Joy [Amy Poehler] says in the second movie that was a total sucker-punch as an adult. But because I promise no spoilers, I’m not quoting it here.)

2. It reminds you of the universal experience of teens and friendships.

As fully grown adults, it’s easy for us to forget the challenges of a teenager and tween. Developmentally speaking, these are the years when our children enjoy their friendships much more than when they were a young child and the challenges that come with it can feel simple to us today. Of course they’re simple–they should be if you’re a parent in your twenties or thirties. But for a 13-year-old like Riley, it’s a challenge that would benefit from parental guidance.

Inside Out 2 will take you back to your teen years while helping you anticipate your child’s inevitable experience. While our teen years may not have been as highly connected as theirs is or will be, it reminded me that the concerns are the same. Do they like me? Will I fit in? What’s important to me? It helped me remember to reach for even more empathy in anticipation of the years my kids are officially teenagers.

3. The new character might be an old friend.

Inside Out 2 introduces new emotions for Riley: Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edibiri), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), and Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos). I caught myself smiling the moment Anxiety started her work. She is definitely an emotion who commands my control console often. I can’t say she started in my teenage years and has since taken a break. She may have camped out at the control room since I became a mother.

Seeing how Anxiety worked was funny but it was also mimetic; it was like looking in the mirror. She is a voice I hear often and Inside Out 2 helped me remember that while she sometimes seems to lead the team, she is but one of many options I have.

Share this review with another family if it helped you decide if you’ll be watching Inside Out 2. Inside Out 2 is showing in cinemas nationwide.