What the Docter ordered: Film gets inside a girl’s mind
Initially, Pixar director Pete Docter was concerned about his daughter Ellie’s future when she went from cheery to glum. After a while, dad realized the disposition shift was typical of a child transitioning into teendom.
He also decided the subject might be a suitable backdrop for his next animated film.
The result is just what the Docter ordered.
Inside Out is a comedy that takes place in the mind of 11-year-old girl Riley. She is defined by the emotions of Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Fear (Bill Hader) and Anger (Lewis Black).
In the movie, all five of Riley’s emotions try to control her decisions after her family relocates from a small town in Minnesota to the big city of San Francisco.
“It’s a time when you are desperately trying to find your tribe,” said Docter with producer Jonas Rivera in Toronto recently, promoting Inside Out.
At the very least, Docter said that he could relate to the feeling of being disenfranchised.
“Growing up loving cartoons was not the most popular thing,” he said, referring to what he described as his “loner phase” in Bloomington, Minn.
The first 50 minutes of the film — which Docter and Rivera presented at a special preview — indicate humour is the key in defining how Riley copes with her changing moods.
Previously, the Pixar pals managed the delicate balance of combining comedy with bits of drama in 2009’s Oscar-winning Up, in which Docter’s daughter Ellie voiced the character Elli.
The two films might seem different on the surface, but both Inside Out and Up push the boundaries of storytelling in structure and style, Docter said.
And like Up, Inside Out went through an incredibly detailed series of polishes.
Luckily for Dad, the Inside Out inspiration for the project has given her 17-year-old stamp of approval to the product.
“Ellie’s actually pretty cool about it,” said Docter, who admitted he was relieved.