Disney and Pixar’s Inside Out 2 returns to the mind of newly minted teenager Riley just as headquarters is undergoing a sudden demolition to make room for something entirely unexpected: new Emotions! Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust, who’ve long been running a successful operation by all accounts, aren’t sure how to feel when Anxiety shows up. And it looks like she’s not alone. Maya Hawke lends her voice to Anxiety, alongside Amy Poehler as Joy, Phyllis Smith as Sadness, Lewis Black as Anger, Tony Hale as Fear, and Liza Lapira as Disgust. Directed by Kelsey Mann and produced by Mark Nielsen.

For in-depth thoughts on Inside Out 2, please see my colleague Dom Fisher’s review from its original theatrical release here.

Video Quality

Inside Out 2 comes to 4K UHD Blu-Ray with a fantastic 2160p HDR10 transfer. One of the areas where this sequel flourishes is the seamless nature of the character designs and how they interact with the environment. All of the minute details are unique and rendered in an effortlessly natural way. The textures of the character designs and the environments are carefully actualized and give the film a tactile feel and a real sense of depth. The level of detail these animators put into each environment is astonishing. The colors featured in this transfer are ostensibly beaming off the screen with the wondrous range of hues permeating every corner of the frame thanks to the implementation of HDR10. Black levels are notably deep with no hint of compression artifacts or digital anomalies of the sort. The highlights are likewise brilliant but firm. Disney never lets us down with their animated properties.

Audio Quality

This 4K UHD Blu-Ray conjures a Dolby Atmos track that gives this story the soundscape it requires. Dialogue comes through crisply and clearly without ever getting clipped by the music or sound effects. From the opening notes of the Andrea Datzman score, the musical elements stand tall as one of the premiere elements of the track. The track saturates the room in a satisfying, enveloping way. Atmospheric sound effects are deployed precisely within the mix so that directionality is never an issue.

The benefits of the height channels are felt thanks to the expansion of this world to feel more three-dimensional. There is an emphasis on the front channels for many of the sounds, but activity extends into the surrounds and rears during the more kinetic moments. The low end effects from the subwoofer give key sequences some texture to keep things tactile. Inside Out 2 holds up well within your home theater system. Optional English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles are provided.

Special Features

Disney has provided Inside Out 2 with a sleek new limited edition SteelBook featuring artwork that is very cool in person. The front artwork is an artistic rendering of the emotions and the rear features Riley’s head with the different areas for the emotions segmented. The interior sports a still of Joy and Sadness. Photos of the SteelBook can be found at the bottom of this review.

New Emotions: A 12-minute featurette in which the creative team discusses the new emotions that puberty brings into the picture, how they whittled down a long list of potential emotions, settling on their design, casting the perfect voice for them, and more.
Unlocking The Vault: A nine-minute piece that functions as a visual commentary as the creative team watches the scene with the vault, discusses the evolution of the scenes, remarks on the challenges of blending animation styles, and more.

Deleted Scenes: Director Kelsey Mann takes you through five scenes totaling 24 minutes of unused material from the film. In these unfinished sequences, you get an alternate opening, a trip to “puberty park”, and more. These are all quite interesting and worth checking out if you are a fan.

Final Thoughts

Inside Out 2 is a pretty entertaining follow-up to one of the strongest Pixar outings, but it often feels like a forced retread of the original film rather than a necessary next chapter. While adults will still enjoy this just fine, it lacks a bit of the magical quality that made you feel like you were seeing something special with the first outing. Nevertheless, the development of Riley is handled well, and the new emotions are reason enough to tune into this installment. We miss a few of the vocal performances, but there is not a false note when it comes to the newcomers. It appears that sequels are going to be a focus for Pixar moving forward, and that just feels a bit unfortunate for one of the most exciting creative forces that existed. Disney has given the film a 4K UHD Blu-Ray that delivers an exceptional A/V presentation and a couple of special features in lovely SteelBook packaging. Recommended

Inside Out 2 will be available to purchase on 4K UHD Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray, and DVD on September 10, 2024. The film is currently available on Digital.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the 4K UHD Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Disney Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.