15. Inside Out
Release Date: June 19 (US) / June 24 (UK)
What It's About: Young Riley is struggling to cope with her parents moving her to San Francisco for her father's new job, and employs the help of her emotions, Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith), to help get through it. The emotions live inside Riley's emotional "Headquarters", but when Joy and Sadness accidentally end up separated from the rest of the gang, they must navigate the inner-machinery of Riley's mind to get home and help her out.
Why It Can Save Hollywood: Because there are only a few truly great animated films released every year, and for Pixar, their last masterful effort was 2010's Toy Story 3, with their last three movies (Cars 2, Brave and Monsters University) ranging from terrible to decent. Inside Out screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May to a universally rapturous response, currently sitting at an
impressive 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, with most critics deeming it a major return to form for the studio, whose reputation up until a few years ago was virtually flawless. If the reviews are to be believed, the film is an ambitious, emotional treat that throws the gauntlet down to all other animation studios (mainly looking at DreamWorks here), and begs them to do better. With the medium struggling to deliver more quality outings each year, hopefully this will be just the inspiration filmmakers need.