Inside Out Review: 8 Reasons It's Pixar's Best Film Since Up

6. The World Inside The Brain Is Genius

Pixar made their name taking vague musings and turning them into fully realised worlds with their own internal logic. Toys don't just come to life when you're not around, but they have their own hierarchy. Monsters don't just live in you closest, they have a massive interlinked society. Cars don't just... erm... OK, we all know Cars wasn't their best. Inside Out is very much in that vein. Little people living inside your head controlling your actions is a deviously simple idea, but here it's expanded to an entire ecosystem. The main emotions preside in headquarters, while small workers populate the wider brain (which, in wide shots, actually looks like a brain) and figments of imagination run around in exile. Every facet of the mental landscape, from the process of abstract thought to the inner workings of the subconscious, are given a physical location and purpose that ties into their how they operate in real-life. By far the smartest element is the treatment of memories. Certain major life events become "core memories", which power entire sections of personality, while less recollected times fade over time, eventually ejected and forgotten. Of course, that irritating ad jingle never fades (and quite how it can come into your head all of a sudden is cheekily explained).