My issues with this movie

It's needless to cite that when "Inside Out" first premiered two years ago, it was heralded as a creative and artistic comeback by Pixar standards. No matter the varios opinions about Pixar, it would be an understatement to cite that Pixar's formula is perceived with a stamp of perfection, that they're praised for being practically flawless and perfect. However, regardless of that, I still would like to cite my issues with the film.

First of all; The movie deals with the intriguing premise of the transition between childhood and teenage state. Yet for how to portray it, several of the films scenes in the midsection (Joy and Sadness' journey within Riley's body) are blatanly juvenile. Pixar gets often praise for having a crossover appeal to both children and adults and several reviewers have cited that the movie's appeal is towards adults, due to them realizing the layers and the complexity of the premise. Yet the movie still had quite blatantly juvenile segments, even for a Pixar movie.

Secondly, the movie's intriguing premise is simplified by the anthropomorphic emotions of Joy and Sadness and their journey together (which sligthly reminded me of Anna and Elsa's dynamic, where both were simply the same archetypes, just that the sisters were without depth). In many ways, the emotions of this movie are simplified to serve their emotions and Joy serves as a metaphor for what most people would like to be; Always happy-go-lucky and escaping sadness. I liked that Joy was given a subdued, yet strong enough arc and realization about the necessity of Sadness. But it irked me that Sadness wasn't given a similar arc and realization. And yes, I've tapped on this issue before and many users have stated their disagreement about that Sadness didn't need such a arc. But I happen to disagree. Due to Sadness being the catalyst for the journey, she could've had a similar arc.

Thirdly, no matter how you personally perceive it, a premise about emotions and phycology is definitively intriguing and Pixar did a fine job with it. There were moments of the movie that got me genuinely moved. However, I still wish that they went further with it and made the story more darker and complex. Both are not strangers to American animation, but "Inside Out" was sanitized to it's core audience.

The core of the movie is Riley, yet she was a fairly bland character. She's the lead, yet we're not given a proper reason to care for her other than superficially. She's not utterly detestable, but she's not as compelling as she could've been.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. I hope you don't bash me for it :)