‘Inside Out 2’ review: Pixar delivers adorable head trip of a sequel

Movie review

Pixar’s original “Inside Out,” from 2015, was a unique treasure: a journey inside the mind of a Bay Area 11-year-old girl named Riley, filled with witty detail, dazzling color and gentle poignancy about the mysterious journey of growing up. Nine years later, here comes “Inside Out 2,” from a studio that seems to be focusing more on sequels and franchises than quirky original stories — and guess what? It’s adorable. Sure, much of it follows ground already trodden in the first film, but it finds that same sweet balance of tears and laughter.

Riley (voiced by Kensington Tallman) is now 13, with a meticulously rendered little pimple on her chin and a whole new set of emotions in her head. The crew from last time — Joy (Amy Poehler), Disgust (Liza Lapira), Fear (Tony Hale), Anger (Lewis Black) and Sadness (the wonderfully soggy Phyllis Smith) — is present, but they’re joined by some more teen-specific colleagues: Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos) and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser). All do battle inside Riley’s brain as she heads off to hockey camp for a few days and is quickly torn between her old friends (Grace Lu, Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green) and a cool new group of girls led by Valentina (Lilimar), who has the sort of perfectly streaked hair that can easily turn a teen’s head.

Of the new characters, I was particularly partial to Ennui, who sprawls spaghetti-like on a couch murmuring French-accented words of boredom while taking unvarying selfies, and to Lance Slashblade (Yong Yea), a hilariously old-school video game character on whom Riley has a secret crush. But all of them, particularly Hawke’s perpetually frazzled Anxiety, create a rich, funny tapestry. And it’s lovely to watch Poehler’s cheerleader-y Joy as she realizes sadly that Riley has less need for her as a teen, but nonetheless resolves to stand by her girl. (“Maybe as you grow up, you feel less joy,” a character muses. Excuse me, there’s something in my eye.)

Though the animation of the human characters occasionally gets a little too close to uncanny-valley creepiness, most of “Inside Out 2” is beautifully rendered, particularly the depictions of memories as a series of iridescent, colorful spheres, carefully categorized and ever-shifting. And the landscape of Riley’s brain at 13, after a vivid red “puberty alarm” has gone off, is wonderfully nuanced: Family Island is smaller, Friend Island is bigger, Mount Crushmore looms overhead and Sar Chasm frequently creates a barrier to communication. There’s even a Nostalgia emotion (June Squibb), who keeps trying to pop out and gets shushed away; she’s not due, we’re told, for “10 years, two graduations and a best friend’s wedding.” Like the first movie, “Inside Out 2” is a happy head trip, for any age.

CORRECTION: Ayo Edebiri’s name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story.