Quite possibly the single Disney movie that best encapsulated the trials and tribulations of being a Third Culture Kid (TCK) was Pixar’s “Inside Out.”
That 2015 movie chronicled the myriad emotions of Domestic TCK Riley, an 11-year-old girl who moves from Minnesota to San Francisco due to her father’s job. The film grossed nearly $859 million (~€794 million) worldwide, and won the Best Animated Feature award at the Oscars.
This weekend marks the premiere of the sequel, “Inside Out 2,” which delves into Riley’s life as a teenager with all the new emotions they entail.
Early reviews of the movie have been overwhelmingly positive, with the film scoring an impressive 91% on Rotten Tomatoes.
“Inside Out 2” Director Kelsey Mann says in a Disney press release issued this week that he wanted to direct the movie because he felt there was more story to tell.
“At the end of the first film, Joy [voiced by Amy Poehler] asked the audience a question. She says, ‘after all Riley is 12 now, what could happen?’ Well, I wanted to answer that question,” Mann says.
The film — which brings in new emotions like Anxiety (voiced by “Stranger Things” star Maya Hawke) to Riley’s mind — spurred Mann to want to “tell a story that made some teenagers’ lives that much easier.”
“A lot of it is me trying to connect to myself as a teenager and all the changes that I went through at that time that helped me get through all the changes I’m going to go through as a director,” he says.
“Inside Out 2” premieres in theaters on Friday, June 14. Check out the trailer below.
