When Pixar was at its peak, movies like Toy Story and Finding Nemo both entertained and tugged at the heartstrings. In recent years, with the exception of the first 15 minutes of Up, the last few have been fun, but not really moving. Well guess what? Inside Out is Pixar at its best. A not so original concept explodes with cleverness, humor, and originality. At times hilarious, and many more times extremely emotional, this has to be one of the best movies of the year. The casting is perfect, the story is tight, and the whole world created on screen is fascinating and inspiring. Childish while very much adult, Inside Out works for both children, grown ups, and the child in all of us. — Stormy Curry

Do you register what emotions you are feeling as you make it through your day? What goes on inside your head as your feel fear, anger, sadness, joy or disgust? Those questions are “answered” in an enormously entertaining and emotional movie, the latest from Pixar, INSIDE OUT. Briefly, Riley is a kid who is uprooted and moved from her home in Minnesota to San Francisco. Nothing is going right. How do we know? Because we see how she is feeling. Pixar takes us inside Riley’s head where Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hader), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Sadness (Phyllis Smith) and Anger (Lewis Black) work to make Riley who she is. The casting is absolutely perfect. Each actor brings their unique talent and voice to each character. The star among them is Smith’s Sadness. Pixar has the unique ability to make the movie entertaining for kids while also giving adults to keep them interested. And that is too basic a description where INSIDE OUT is concerned. The kids will love the slapstick, physical humor. The adults will appreciate the message that the Pete Docter and company are trying to get across. There is no one emotion that can exist without the others. Every memory is framed against fear and joy, or sadness and joy. No emotion exists in a vacuum. But the point is made without beating you over the head and the climactic scene will make you sloppy cry. Bring tissues. Lots of tissues.  My top Pixar movies are (in no particular order) TOY STORY 3, WALL-E and UP. Now add INSIDE OUT to the list. This isn’t just a good animated movie. This is a great movie. It should get serious consideration for best picture come Oscar time. — Alan Yudman