Inside Out
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: June 19, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
94
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 55 Critic Reviews
Positive:
55
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldJul 8, 2017
Inside Out movingly but casually plays with our emotions, like a baby walking her fingers across a parent’s face; it leaves you changed, entertained, nostalgic, dazzled. Read full review
100
ConsequenceBlake GobleJul 8, 2017
Inside Out is a superlative work of inspired imagination, one that may very well stay in your mind for a very long time. Read full review
100
ScreenCrushMatt SingerJul 8, 2017
It is, from start to finish, one of Pixar’s best films. Read full review
100
VoxAlex Abad-SantosJul 8, 2017
Inside Out is as beautiful as it is abstract, as daring as it is intelligent. It's also the best movie of 2015 so far. Read full review
100
Total FilmJamie GrahamJul 21, 2015
Like the Toy Story trilogy, Inside Out is about leaving childhood behind. It’s not quite as moving as those films but it is A-grade Pixar, full of Sadness and Joy. Read full review
100
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanJul 9, 2015
I haven’t seen a movie this year with a more brilliant combination of imagination, emotionally moving moments, witty writing, visually interesting details and psychologically accurate behavior than Inside Out. Read full review
100
EmpireIan FreerJul 9, 2015
Inside Out is audacious as it is silly, as funny as it is imaginative. Read full review
100
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaJun 19, 2015
Inside Out is the first psychological thriller that's fun for the whole family. Really psychological. And really fun. Read full review
100
SlateDana StevensJun 18, 2015
Only in the medium of animation could a conceit as elaborate as Inside Out’s be dramatized, and only animation this well-designed and executed could bring such a story so vibrantly to life. Read full review
100
TimeMary PolsJun 18, 2015
Inside Out is nearly hallucinogenic, entirely beautiful and easily the animation studio’s best release since 2010’s "Toy Story 3." Stylistically Inside Out is nothing like Richard Linklater’s "Boyhood," but for its scope in examining the maturation process, it might well be called "Childhood." Read full review
100
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJun 18, 2015
The level of invention is so high, and the density of detail is so great, that it’s impossible to absorb everything in a single viewing. Read full review
100
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJun 18, 2015
Inside Out isn't just a movie. It's a doctoral dissertation on human psychology, with a bit of therapy on the side. Miraculously, it's fun, to boot. Read full review
100
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzJun 18, 2015
The best parts of it feel truly new, even as they channel previous animated classics (including the works of Hayao Miyazaki) and explore situations and feelings that everyone has experienced to some degree. Read full review
100
Washington PostAnn HornadayJun 18, 2015
This is that rare movie that transcends its role as pure entertainment to become something genuinely cathartic, even therapeutic, giving children a symbolic language with which to manage their unruliest emotions. Read full review
100
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJun 18, 2015
Inside Out is an absolute delight — funny and charming, fast-moving and full of surprises. It is also a defense of sorrow, an argument for the necessity of melancholy dressed in the bright colors of entertainment. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranJun 17, 2015
Inside Out manages to be honest and unafraid but never cheaply sentimental where emotion is concerned, evoking a largeness of spirit whose ability to be moving sneaks up and takes us by surprise. Read full review
100
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 17, 2015
The idea has been tried — remember TV's "Herman's Head"? — but never with the artful brilliance of filmmaker Pete Docter (Up; Monsters, Inc.). Read full review
100
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJun 17, 2015
This teeming, tear-duct-draining, exhaustingly inventive, surreal animated comedy is going to be a new pop-culture touchstone. In all kinds of ways it’s a mind-opener. Read full review
100
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJun 17, 2015
The surprises are plentiful and seamlessly connected. Read full review
100
New York PostLou LumenickJun 17, 2015
A hilarious and touching animated masterpiece that takes a gloriously imaginative, sometimes scary leap into the mind of a girl on the cusp of adolescence. Read full review
100
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierJun 17, 2015
Inside Out is the year’s best film so far. After you see it, you’ll say that’s a no-brainer. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyJun 17, 2015
There’s enough slapstick and silliness to keep kids entertained.... But the film also has a bittersweet streak about the loss of innocence and the fleetingness of childhood. Read full review
100
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 17, 2015
Inside Out is terrific, a mind-bending concept turned into a brilliant film, a return to form for Pixar not just in terms of quality but in taking risks — risks that pay off. Read full review
100
The DissolveTasha RobinsonJun 17, 2015
Inside Out has a rich, unpackable story. But like all Pixar’s best films, it’s fleet and accessible, trusting the audience to keep up with an adventure that unfolds at a breakneck pace. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJun 15, 2015
Directed with great flair and pitch-perfect timing, brimming with sparkling visuals, filled with first-rate voice performances, thrilling adventures and unforgettable moments, Inside-Out is an instant classic. Read full review
100
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMay 18, 2015
This is a humane and heart-wrenchingly beautiful film from Docter; even measured alongside Pixar’s numerous great pictures, it stands out as one of the studio’s very best. Read full review
100
VarietyPeter DebrugeMay 18, 2015
In execution, Pixar’s 15th feature proves to be the greatest idea the toon studio has ever had: a stunningly original concept that will not only delight and entertain the company’s massive worldwide audience, but also promises to forever change the way people think about the way people think, delivering creative fireworks grounded by a wonderfully relatable family story. Read full review
100
HitfixDrew McWeenyMay 18, 2015
Co-directors Pete Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen have told a very, very small-scale story when you look at what happens in the actual physical world. But in doing so, they've done something very powerful, because they have paid full respect to just how turbulent and important the inner life of a child can be. Read full review
91
The Film StageRory O'ConnorJul 8, 2017
It’s amongst the smartest, funniest, and saddest films in the studio’s history. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jun 17, 2015
Bucking the current company mandate of churning out lesser sequels and prequels, it’s not just a brilliant idea, but maybe the most conceptually daring movie the Bay Area animation house has ever produced. And that’s really saying something, what with "WALL-E" on the books. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianMarc MohanJun 17, 2015
Inside Out expands the possibilities of animation. It's also a hilarious ride that delights the eye, the mind and the heart. Read full review
91
IndieWireEric KohnJun 16, 2015
Pull back from the moment-to-moment thrill of Inside Out and it gets very deep: The scenario implicitly questions standard definitions of free will by suggesting that we're all slaves to ghosts in the machine. Read full review
90
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoJul 8, 2017
Delightful, inventive and deeply affecting, Inside Out embodies the very best of what Pixar has to offer. Read full review
90
The New YorkerAnthony LaneJun 22, 2015
On the scale of inventiveness, Inside Out will be hard to top this year. As so often with Pixar, you feel that you are visiting a laboratory crossed with a rainbow. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyMay 18, 2015
It’s an audacious concept, and Docter’s imagination, along with those of his numerous collaborators, is adventurous and genially daft enough to put it over. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesJun 17, 2015
Its audacity is entirely matched by its artistry. Read full review
89
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeJun 17, 2015
A stronger structure underpinning these emotions run amok would have benefitted the film, but then what would feelings be without a little messiness? For many viewers, giving their own Joy and Sadness a workout will be enough to make Inside Out a valuable experience. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 19, 2015
I won't argue that Inside Out is as profound or all-around engaging as "Toy Story 3," but the films succeed in many of the same ways. Read full review
88
USA TodayBrian TruittJun 18, 2015
The main voice actors all fit their animated personas, especially Poehler and Black. Poehler brings a unshakably quirky optimism to Joy while Black takes his acerbic stand-up routine, makes it a smidge more family-friendly, and turns up the juice for Anger. Read full review
88
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 17, 2015
It’s a wholly original child’s-eye-view of emotions and growing up, a demanding movie for small children and a rewarding and touching one for their parents. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrJun 17, 2015
It is a joy for audiences seeking entertainment, an ingenious work of craft for those paying close attention, and a wallop of feeling that’s still too rare coming from a cartoon. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 16, 2015
The life of Riley is not exotic; her troubles are not unique. But they are rendered with serious imagination by Docter and company. Read full review
84
Paste MagazineTim GriersonJul 8, 2017
Inside Out may be the best Pixar has released in a while, especially after a string of disappointing and underwhelming efforts, but what’s most cheering about the film—and most like Pixar’s celebrated classics—is that it’s so emotionally astute. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJun 19, 2015
There’s real verve in the animation and wit in the byplay. Read full review
83
The PlaylistJessica KiangMay 18, 2015
Inside Out is not just fun and breezy, it's also truly weird and wicked smart in its thoroughly heartfelt conclusions. Read full review
80
Village VoiceAmy NicholsonJun 17, 2015
For all the distractions and gags, Inside Out argues a more complex idea: that sometimes, Sadness deserves to steer, and that as we age, our happy memories deepen when tinted a wistful blue. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonDave CalhounMay 18, 2015
At times, you ache to put the brakes on the chaos, but still Pixar manages to do with all this what they do best, turning the everyday rough and smooth of childhood experience into a thoughtful, inventive adventure, full of totally appropriate lurid and strange imagery. Read full review
80
CineVueJoe WalshMay 18, 2015
All of this is achieved with the signature levels of emotional intelligence that Pixar are renowned for. The level of detail with which they have created this world is staggering, with each aspect of the psyche carefully thought out. Read full review
80
Screen DailyCharles GantMay 18, 2015
With most of the story of Inside Out playing out inside Riley’s mind – the child’s eyes providing the emotion-themed characters’ view of the outside world – the film offers ample scope for the creativity of the filmmaking team. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 18, 2015
It hasn’t anything as genuinely emotionally devastating as Up, or the subtlety and inspired subversion of Monsters Inc. and the Toy Stories which it certainly resembles at various stages. But it is certainly a terrifically likeable, ebullient and seductive piece of entertainment, taken at full-throttle. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJun 18, 2015
The not-as-good news is that, like “Wall-E” and “Up,” Inside Out has a great opening, a satisfying finish, and something of a sag in the middle. But this time it’s only a sag. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchGail PenningtonJun 18, 2015
In the end, children will enjoy Inside Out for the fun colors (each emotion is conveniently color-coded) and entertaining adventure, and will end the movie cheering. Grown-ups are more likely to watch with their own emotions on their sleeves and wind up sniffling. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezJun 18, 2015
If Inside Out doesn’t stack up with the best Pixar movies (Wall-E, Finding Nemo, Toy Story), that’s because there’s less plot here than usual, and even at a lean 95 minutes, the movie starts to drag a bit just before it ends. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChristopher GrayJun 12, 2015
Both wonderfully complex and weirdly reductive at the same time—a formula, though, that seems as sound an embodiment of the human brain as any other. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'HehirJun 18, 2015
It’s a lovely film that requires a little patience and a friendly disposition, and may be too low-impact to thrive amid a summer of grotesquely overengineered sequels. Read full review
More From This Movie

94 Critic Reviews

8.7 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL