In keeping tradition with CinemaCon, Disney this afternoon treated attendees to the first 35 minutes of their latest Pixar movie; this year being the sequel Inside Out 2.
The sequel brings viewers back into the mind of the now teenage Riley (Kensington Tallman) as her emotions try to keep up with her new feelings. And while Pixar has gotten the short-end of the stick during the pandemic with their movies —Soul, Luca and Turning Red–sent to Disney+, and Lightyear shunned by Toy Story purists, Inside Out 2, had the Colosseum in stitches punctuated by the humor of Amy Poehler and Lewis Black, along with Maya Hawke a scenestealer as the antagonist Anxiety who takes over the soul of young teen Riley from the feelings of Joy, Anger, Sadness, and Fear. Let’s also not forget about Envy played by Ayo Edebiri who is in cahoots with Anxiety for the spirit of Riley.
Amy Poehler, who provides the pic’s protag Joy, introduced the footage saying, “I’ve played a lot of joyful characters over the years, but none of them have been as special to me as Joy. There was not even a millisecond of pause when they asked me to return.”
The sequel, she added, “captures the beauty and hilarity of every emotion we all experience on a daily basis.” The movie will “make you laugh and cry and everything in between.”
Kelsey Mann directs the pic which is slated to begin international release on June 12 with domestic starting June 14.
Grossing over $858M worldwide and winning the 2016 Oscar for Best Animated Feature, the original Inside Out introduced viewers to Riley, then a young girl confronting emotions including Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Tony Hale), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Liza Lapira), and Sadness (Phyllis Smith) as she’s uprooted to San Francisco from the Midwest. Each emotion was memorably personified for the viewer, who could watch them clash inside Riley’s mind about how best to navigate a new city, house, and school.
Joining the band of conflicting emotions inside her head this time around is Anxiety, a frazzled, but lovable, orange emotion, voiced by Maya Hawke.
Also new are Envy, voiced by Ayo Edebiri; Ennui, voiced by Adèle Exarchopoulos; and Embarrassment, voiced by Paul Walter Hauser. Lilimar voices Valentina “Val” Ortiz, a high school hockey player who everyone, including Riley and her friends, looks up to.
Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan reprise their roles as Riley’s mom and dad. Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green and Grace Lu voice Riley’s besties, and Yvette Nicole Brown voices Coach Roberts, who leads a summer hockey camp.