★★★★

Nine years have ebbed and flown since our last visit to Riley’s mind, the setting of Pete Docter’s groundbreaking animation Inside Out. They’ve not been kind. Not universally so and certainly not for the studio that made said film. The signs of a heyday past were already well felt in the Pixar production line, even before their pandemic woes. Streaming has been but the cherry on the Disney stewed ratatouille. In short, Pixar haven’t had a hit since 2019. It’s a Dug eat Dug world out there and the stakes could hardly be higher. Thank goodness for Inside Out 2.