Woody Woodpecker

Boy, I wasted my weekend watching the Woody Woodpecker movies. I was familiar with the character because I think he had a cartoon in the 90s, even though he was conceived in the 40s. Still, I was surprised that they had made a movie about him in 2017. Probably the reason why I never really knew much about it is because it was only released theatrically in Brazil and we got a straight-to-DVD release. As we all know, those types of releases seem to almost always spell disaster. Want to know why? Let’s take a look.

This iconic 1940s cartoon bird with the red crest and trademark signature laugh makes his feature film debut in a movie that – like the “Alvin and the Chipmunks” franchise – combines insane CGI animation and boring live action.

In this feature the mischievous trickster (as stated in the film by Jordana Largy to be an incarnation of the god of chaos and misrule) tortures city lawyer Lance (Timothy Omundson) and his Portuguese girlfriend (Thaila Ayala) who are trying to build a house that will be a law office in Woody’s side of the forest.

However, he does become friends with Lance’s neglected teenage son, Tommy (Graham Verchere), who is left with Lance by his ex-wife (Emily Holmes) and proves a useful ally when incompetent redneck poachers Nate and Ottis (Scott MacNeil and Adrian Glynn McMorran) devise a series of traps to perform taxidermy on Woody.

Tommy becomes friends with Jill (Chelsea Miller) and Lyle (Jakob Davies) who plan a performance as a rock band for a fair, especially after Woody saves Lance from some bullies (Patrick Lubczyk and Ty Consiglio).

Jason Best said it perfectly in his review, “The acting is cartoonish and the gags are mostly lame, suggesting that Woody’s antics are best enjoyed – or endured – in small doses.”

With how bad this film was, did it really need a sequel? Because they made one for Netflix that was released in April.

Years of having human actors with CGI animated characters in children’s comedies haven’t really made a new era for children’s entertainment. Once in a while there is a hit, but nothing you can imagine kids loving, even years after they are released, has been the result.

Roger Moore stated in his review, “Efforts starring Scooby-Doo and Marmaduke and Sonic the Hedgehog are joined by “Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp,” a lackluster revival of the 1940s vintage intellectual property cartoon character.”

The title tells you everything that you need to know about this sequel. Woody, reprised by Eric Bauza, is here. Moore said, “He needs to go to “camp” to learn “teamwork” instead of being the self-serving, pileated and pecking menace he’s always been.”

Camp Woo-Hoo, which focuses on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) and is not successful, is where Woody looks for a “teamwork” badge to reenter his home forest he was expelled from by Patrick Williams. Moore noted, “It’s run by Mary-Louise Parker, and the funniest thing about the film must have been the conversation between the “Weeds” star and the agent who talked her into this.”

There’s a rival camp called Hoo-Rah, with camouflage attire and by Josh Lawson with nothing but bullies. Buzz Buzzard, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, an ex-con, helps Camp Hoo-Rah compete with Camp Woo-Hoo in The Wilderness Games, which are refereed by Inspector Wally Walrus, voiced by Tom Kenny.

Moore said, “It’s childish and slapshticky, with Woody commenting on everything and anything, including a flashback to the old prospector who bought the land that it was founded on.”

The jokes and the puns are weak. Buzz throws Woody in Camp Hoo-Rah’s freezer.

Woody’s signature laugh isn’t as amusing as it was before and he doesn’t succeed on what he said he would in the first act.

You could think this is harmless, with its diverse cast of stereotypical nerds and bullies and so forth.

However, they needed to go back to the drawing board for the message.

There’s barely anything going on to attract children into siding with Woody from beginning to end. Moore said, “The anarchy is mild-mannered, the sight gags limp and the human interactions produce no laughs and little in the way of charm, either.”

Moore admitted, “Still, I would’ve loved to hear that agent’s call to Emmy-winner Mary-Louise P. Provided it didn’t smack of desperation on either end of the line.”

As you might have guessed, these films are awful. You will wish you didn’t play these on Netflix. Stay away from these two films because you will get nothing out of it except being a waste of time. There are talks of a third film, which I hope they don’t do because these suck.

Sorry for these reviews, by stay tuned this Friday for the finale of “Beverly Hills Cop Month.”

Beverly Hills Cop III

In Detroit, Michigan, in the early hours of the morning, eccentric Detective Axel Foley and his team of policemen finally get the details of a huge deal. The targets are just mechanics running a carjacking operation, so Foley hastily cancels the arrival of a SWAT team – not listening to the orders of his superior. As predicted, machinegun-shooting gangsters raid the warehouse with bullets to take a smuggled shipment of unknown but valuable materials, catching Foley’s squad completely unprepared. Starting a firefight and car chase through the empty streets leaves Inspector Todd, played by Gil Hill, dead and several others wounded.

Secret Service Agent Steve Fulbright, played by Stephen McHattie, interrupts Foley trying to inform him that he encountered a federal investigation that requires the crooks escaping so that their merchandise and intended buyer can be discovered and apprehended. Refusing to drop the case, Axel travels to Beverly Hills to visit his friend Sergeant William Rosewood, who might be able to help. Officer Jon Flint (Hector Elizondo) is supposed to schedule a meeting with Ellis De Wald (Timothy Carhart), the Director of Security for Wonder World, a large California amusement park (where an “Alien Attack” exhibit is recognizably filmed at Universal Studios). Foley’s sneaking alarms armed guards that cause so many issues when they begin shooting and destroying rides, damaging park guests, and revealing a criminal conspiracy between De Wald, enforcers for hire, Wonder World, and other shady parties.

Mike Massie said in his review, “It starts with a bang, throwing cops against gunmen in an explosive shootout and vehicle chase, involving plenty of death and destruction and Murphy behind the wheel of a flashy red sports car – careening around to rock ‘n’ roll tunes. The storyline picks up quickly, leading to further action sequences, including a malfunctioning Ferris wheel-type attraction, underground skirmishes, and public embarrassments at elite gatherings. Shortly thereafter, however, the subversive machinations are complicated with meandering subplots that slow down the pacing more than they heighten suspense.” Jurisdictional encounters, a temporary romantic interest with park safety employee Janice Perkins (Theresa Randle), a missing designer, the introduction of Wonder World showman Uncle Dave (Alan Young), and hopelessly clumsy henchmen don’t help move things along either.

Cameos by Bronson Pinchot, George Lucas, Julie Strain, Ray Harryhausen, and others are curious but not amusing. And more confusing still is the use of successful but unrecognizable Hollywood directors (such as Peter Medak, Arthur Hiller, Barbet Schroeder, John Singleton, and Joe Dante) in very brief appearances. Massie noted, “These wasted peculiarities are even muddier with the increasingly greater loss of focus on humor. An annoyingly uninspired villain, gimmicky fight scenes (primarily with the ludicrously contrived Annihilator 2000 total security unit, a lightweight, high-performance multi-use weapon), and the lack of sincerity in the face of danger are further laugh-retardants.” Foley again proves suspiciously hard to kill (even in a heavy elephant costume), but this time around, the situations aren’t nearly as funny or exciting as in the last two films and Murphy appears far less enthusiastic and energetic.

As everyone can guess, this is the worst of the franchise. I saw this on YouTube back when everything used to be uploaded in various parts because YouTube only allowed 10-minute videos. I can’t believe that this film ended up the way it was. Were they trying to show that Foley had matured? Because they clearly didn’t do a good job. Murphy himself said that this film was so atrocious and wanted to make a fourth film for a long time. I don’t blame him because this film was really bad. They tried to make a TV show, but that didn’t work. Just don’t watch this film if you don’t want to be tortured. Save yourself from this misery of a sequel.

Look out next week when we look at the latest and much awaited sequel in the finale of “Beverly Hills Cop Month.”

Beverly Hills Cop II

Something has gone completely wrong. They made the wrong sequel. The original “Beverly Hills Cop” was the screenplay written for Sylvester Stallone, but filmed with Eddie Murphy as the protagonist. After it was such a success, the idea was that “Beverly Hills Cop II,” released in 1987, would be a real Eddie Murphy movie, with more comedy and fewer guns and chases.

Roger Ebert pointed out in his review, “Alas, Part 2 seems even more like a Stallone vehicle than the first movie. I'm not even sure it's intended as a comedy. It's filled wall to wall with the kind of routine action and violence that Hollywood extrudes by the yard and shrink-wraps to order. But the sequel makes no particular effort to be funny, and actually seems to take its ridiculous crime plot seriously - as if we cared.”

There’s a major problem with the movie. Eddie Murphy is not likable in the sequel. He now is an arrogant loudmouth. A little of him goes a long way. Ebert mentioned, “Somehow they've lost track of their original appealing idea, which was that a smart, funny street cop from Detroit would waltz into Beverly Hills and deflate the Porsche-and-sunglasses set.” Doesn’t work that way this time.

Murphy’s idea of a funny scene in this movie is to yell a lot at people in a harsh, angry voice. There’s a scene where he visits the Playboy Mansion and shouts at the receptionist, and you want to just turn off the movie. Murphy appears to be the problem rather than the solution.

Ebert asked, “What is comedy? That's a pretty basic question, I know, but "Cop II" never thought to ask it. Doesn't comedy usually center around a series of surprises based on insights into human nature? Let's assume that everyone in Beverly Hills is obsessed with money, power, possessions and social status. Let's further assume that a black cop from Detroit rides into town and doesn't give a darn for their effete values and conspicuous consumption, and cuts through the nonsense like a knife through butter. That would be funny. It is, however, an idea the "Beverly Hills Cop" movies have been unable to fully exploit after two tries. Instead, Murphy and his associates make the fatal error of assuming that the way you deal with jerks is to be a bigger jerk.”

For what producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer probably paid for the screenplay for this movie, they should have been able to get a new one. The plot of this sequel is recycled from other mindless, basic, modern, high-tech movie. It’s not even a plot. It’s a series of usual scenarios, with The Chase, The Powerful Men of Evil, The Hot Material Woman, The Hit Men, and The Shootout. (The Chase has a cement truck, and it proves, hands down, that cement trucks do not work very well in chases.)

Ebert admitted, “I'm an Eddie Murphy fan. I think that on a good day, he is capable of being funnier than anybody else in the movies right now. I was one of the admirers of "The Golden Child," his comedy from last Christmas, which plugged him into a cheerfully ridiculous plot, and made him a lovable character who was doggedly trying to endure a series of exotic dangers. I also like Murphy when he's street-smart and capable, as in "48 Hrs.," (1982).”

Ebert continued, “What I don't like is the unstated assumption, in "Cop II," that Murphy is funny by definition, and that anybody who gets in his way is a fool. Maybe Murphy should study some of those old "I Love Lucy" episodes where Lucy gets into situations she can't handle: She's up against a snooty headwaiter in a stuck-up restaurant, let's say. What does she do? Scream at the guy? No, she always finds a way to deflate the guy simply by remaining true to her own character and insisting on being treated as a human being.”

That’s what’s missing in this sequel. We aren’t against the way the villains in Beverly Hills want to treat Murphy, because, sadly, he’s a bigger jerk. Obviously, because he’s the protagonist, no one else in the story is allowed to put hands on him. However, here’s an interesting idea. The movie might have been funnier if they had reversed every situation and made Foley the punchline of the jokes.

With Dean Stockwell, Brigitte Nielsen, and Jurgen Prochnow playing the villains, you would think they would make the film interesting, but they don’t. Chris Rock was even shoved into a scene here, and this was one of his first roles. You can tell how bad of a sequel it is, especially when inserting Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion in this sequel. Murphy felt like he was doing everything he was supposed to and the supporting cast wasn’t helping him. You can’t just make the comedian protagonist do all the work and not do anything yourself. Everyone has to do their part, and no one was. I own this movie on VHS, and this was a disappointing sequel. Especially since this came out the same year as Murphy’s stand-up “Raw.” Don’t see this sequel, you will hate it.

Next week, we will be looking at the absolute worst in the series in “Beverly Hills Cop Month.” Sorry for the late response. I was going to write the review before I was called to go out for a late night snack.

Oppenheimer

Alright everyone, I finally got around to watching last year’s “Oppenheimer.” Currently, it is streaming on Prime, as I missed the opportunity to stream it on Peacock. I finished the movie today while exercising, so now I will let everyone know what I thought.

This film won a lot of awards and it deserved every single one of them. Matt Neal said in his review, “While I would've loved Poor Things to have pulled off a surprise best picture win at the Oscars, this was Oppenheimer's year. In 2023, Barbie won the memes, Oppenheimer won the awards, and Barbenheimer won our hearts.”

“Oppenheimer” is Christopher Nolan’s best film since “Inception.” Neal noted, “It's easy to wonder why Nolan hadn't won a best film or best director Oscar before now, but his greatest films never fit the Academy Award mould - Memento was too early in his career, Inception was too actiony, and The Dark Knight was too superheroey.” The Academy must have been waiting for Nolan to get the formula right, and “Oppenheimer” did that.

For those who don’t know the story, “Oppenheimer” is the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, played by Cillian Murphy, the father of the atomic bomb. It shows us his journey to develop the A-bomb through the Manhattan Project, his difficult relationship with the two women he fell in love with, played by Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh, his struggle with the damage his intelligence brought on a predominantly innocent society in Japan, his later anti-nuke campaign, and the post-WWII efforts in the USA to damage his name.

Neal mentioned, “Nolan squeezes all of this into a propulsive three hours. If I have one criticism, it's that Oppenheimer rarely takes a breath - Ludwig Göransson's score is relentless, giving every scene the feeling like its meant for the trailer.” There are a few quiet moments in this film. There are just some moments that are less intense than others, but only when comparing them.

Neal admitted, “This is not a big deal, and I'm exaggerating slightly, but this is actually why Oppenheimer never feels like three hours long.” When the Manhattan Project test is successful and the USA bomb Nagasaki and Hiroshima, you might think what’s left to tell, but the film never stops being fascinating.

It would be easy to feature this to the topic, but it would also be very easy to make this boring. Neal said, “The script, adapted from the Oppenheimer biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, sings every step of the way. Nolan even makes the dry physics entertaining with dazzling visualisations of things that I can only assume are dry physics.”

Nolan wanting to film this with the previous methods – practical effects, large film cameras – feel a little like making things superfluously difficult for people in a digital realm, but there’s not denying how good it looks, so maybe Nolan was doing the right thing. Neal noted, “Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema has always made things look amazing, going back to Let The Right One In, and this, his fourth collaboration with Nolan, looks stunning.”

Then we have the cast, who are all amazing. Murphy really embodies Oppenheimer, chain-smoking his way to a point you believe him in the role. Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Matt Damon, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh, Jason Clarke, David Dastmalchian, Dane DeHaan, Josh Peck, Jack Quaid, James Remar, Gary Oldman, and everyone else are all as great as we normally see them. This isn’t a surprise with how great the cast is, nor shocking that their performances are the best.

Nolan is a great director and this is one of best films to have come out last year.

If you haven’t seen this movie, and you have Prime, check it out. Yes, it’s a three-hour movie and if you can’t sit through the entirety in one sitting, then you can take breaks. I watched this while I was exercising, and it took a couple of weeks, but I managed to watch the whole thing. Check it out and enjoy this film. It may not be completely accurate, but I can’t think of a biographical film that is.

Thank you for joining in on this review tonight. Stay tuned this Friday for the continuation of “Beverly Hills Cop Month.”

Beverly Hills Cop

Since the latest film in this franchise has finally been released on Netflix after years of talking for another sequel, this month will be dedicated to the “Beverly Hills Cop” franchise, starting with the first film, released in 1984.

Mike Massie started out his review by crediting, “Beverly Hills Cop” is, arguably, comedian Eddie Murphy’s finest film, brilliantly combining his improvisational wisecracking and infectious laugh with murder-mystery mayhem, adventure, unlikely sidekicks, and a hip techno soundtrack that would become the production’s trademark. Full of wild stunts, fast-talking comedy, and a slew of hilarious supporting characters, this surprise hit (especially considering it was originally a project for Sylvester Stallone) would spawn two sequels and is easily one of the most enjoyable of the abundant buddy-cop action films of the ‘80s.” This was also nominated for Best Screenplay Oscar (maybe for the countless improvisational lines) and was directed by Martin Brest before his career shattered due to “Gigli.”

Massie noted, “Detroit detective Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) uses his loud mouth and in-your-face persuasiveness to go undercover in dangerous stings. The opening scene demonstrates his ability to stay quick on his feet and concoct plans on the fly – skills that find him hanging from the swinging back doors of a delivery truck as it careens down busy streets and demolishes half of the city during a particularly impressive, stunt-filled chase sequence.” Shortly after getting yelled at by his commanding officer (Gilbert R. Hill) for the large amount of property destruction, Foley’s friend Mikey Tandino (James Russo) visits him after a six-month jail sentence. The two were childhood friends, both frequently getting into trouble before Axel realized his love for fighting crime. However, Mikey hasn’t completely stopped the crimes and his involvement in a German bearer bond conspiracy ends in a professional hitman (Jonathan Banks and Michael Champion) shooting him down.

Livid, Axel takes a vacation to Beverly Hills to get to the bottom of a murder he is told not to get involved in. the clues given by his longtime friend and gallery employee Jenny Summers (Lisa Eilbacher) lead him to a top United States art dealer named Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff), who has Axel civilly thrown out of a window to be unfairly arrested for public disturbance. Tough police lieutenant Andre Bogomil, played by Ronny Cox, isn’t pleased to find out Foley is ruining his town. He orders detectives Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (John Ashton) to take the Detroit detective and eventually escort him out of the city limits – but Axel wins over the two cops and convinces them to help him catch the evil Maitland.

Massie noted, “Although Murphy is a one-man-army comedian, the chemistry between Foley, Rosewood, and Taggart truly makes the movie hilarious. Foley continually marches into hazardous situations but uses jokes for defense and impersonations to infiltrate enemy bases; a shotgun in the face doesn’t faze him and, despite plenty of assassins and gunmen, he just won’t die.” Hilariously, his sense of humor protects him. However, even when several of his jokes fail (the sheer amount orders that some won’t work), the supporting characters are always there to pick up the slack. Also, some of it unexpectedly comes from non-important roles like Bronson Pinchot as the thickly accented and yet ethnically unidentifiable Sarge.

This is one of the funniest movies ever made. I saw this as a rental from the library. If you haven’t seen it yet, go see it on Netflix. For a movie that originally was supposed to star Sylvester Stallone, who actually wanted to do “Cobra” and they wanted to make this movie funny, Murphy quite possibly brought his most memorable character. He even said that when he goes overseas, kids know him as Axel Foley. You will love this movie a lot, especially when this came out around the time Murphy released his stand-up “Delirious.”

Look out next week when I talk about the first sequel in “Beverly Hills Cop Month.” Sorry for the late posting. I laid down and didn’t realize I fell asleep.

Team America: World Police

Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the dynamic duo behind “South Park,” released “Team America: World Police” in 2004 with the political satire that was going on at the time. Rob Gonsalves said in his review, “The puppets here, of course, are literal: Thunderbirds-style marionettes manipulated by visible strings. At first, director Parker plays the puppets’ jerky movements for laughs, in much the same spirit as when Eric Cartman, in the previous Parker/Stone feature South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, complained about the crudely animated Terrance and Phillip, and the movie cut to the four crudely animated boys waddling away.” However, it doesn’t take long for audiences to suspend their disbelief, even during the famous lovemaking scene between two Team America members. What are human actors in big-budget action movies but highly-paid puppets anyway, saying lines and movie from one over-the-top scene to another?

“Team America’s” biggest target ends up being not terrorists or even politicians, but actors. One actor mainly, the fast-rising Broadway actor Gary Johnston, voiced by Parker, is recruited by Team America to act like a terrorist an find out when the next attack will be. The team include Joe (Parker), a blonde quarterback type, Lisa (Kristen Miller), who knows how terrorists think, Sarah (Masasa Mayo), a lover who goes around “sensing” how everyone is feeling, and Chris (Matt Stone), a cold martial-arts expert with a tragic backstory about the cast of “Cats.” In charge of everyone is the gray-haired importance Spottswoode, voiced by Daran Norris, who has a strange way of asking proof of loyalty from his team of freedom fighters. They go up against Kim Jong Il, voiced by Parker, who wants to level civilization but also has time to sing I’m So Ronery.

Gonsalves admitted, “The movie is funny, sometimes uproarious, but doesn’t hit the delirious heights of the South Park movie, one of the funniest comedies of the ’90s. It’s closer to the hit-and-miss first feature by Parker, Cannibal: The Musical, and probably comes in behind 1997’s Orgazmo, which began the long-standing feud between Parker and the MPAA (who objected to Team America’s puppet-love scene).” Parker and Stone are all about teasing everyone, and Hollywood liberals (Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Michael Moore) get the worst of the pair’s jokes here. They would probably do likewise for Hollywood conservatives who position and explain Republican’s main points, if there were any besides Ron Silver (or Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was more a politician than an actor at the time). Gonsalves said, “I think Parker and Stone just can’t resist tearing down anyone who sounds holier-than-thou; they do have a message here, but, typically, it’s expressed in jock-filth terms that would make Howard Stern blush.”

Gonsalves continued, “Consciously structured like a Jerry Bruckheimer action flick (Pearl Harbor takes some lumps in a ballad called “Pearl Harbor Sucked and I Miss You”), Team America sports some true artistry in the form of the puppetry work by the Chiodo Brothers and the intricate set design by visual consultant David Rockwell.” As usual, heart and soul have been inserted into an area that Parker and Stone want you to think they just made up after getting together and doing who knows what.

Gonsalves admitted, “It amuses me that probably the biggest star to appear in any Parker/Stone film is Ron Jeremy (in Orgazmo); after Team America, which thoroughly trounces the Hollywood elite, the duo shouldn’t expect many actors to chomp at the bit to work with them. Nor, I’m sure, do they care; in South Park and now Team America, Parker and Stone have resolved their disdain for actors by not hiring any. Their movies now play like goofs made by two guys in their basement, financed and released on Paramount’s big dime. Billy Wilder once opined, “Actors: can’t make movies with ’em, can’t make movies without ’em,” and I think he would’ve understood Team America.”

I remember people in my high school talking about this movie a little, mainly with the theme song in the film. I didn’t see it at the time because my parents were very careful on what I watched. Besides, I never watched “South Park,” and seeing how this film was made by the creators of that show, you can see how related it is. Check it out because you will have a lot of laughs at the spoofs in this film, especially with the puppet movements and how the shots of just holding on to a puppets face to resemble what real-life actors would have done is just downright funny.

Happy Independence Day everyone. I hope everyone had an enjoyable day today, especially when going out to see the fireworks. Sorry for the late posting as I had gone out today for a couple of things. See you tomorrow to see what I will review next month.

Inside Out 2

Last night, my sister, cousin, and I went to the theaters to check out “Inside Out 2,” which came out a little over two weeks ago. Will this be the Disney that will get people back into loving them again?

Who would imagine that the thoughts keeping people up at night come from a feeling that means well? However, after watching “Inside Out 2,” it’s hard to think of Anxiety any other way.

Valerie Kalfrin said in her review, “It’s been nine years since Disney/Pixar’s Oscar-winning animated feature Inside Out introduced viewers to the cutely complex emotional landscape inside the mind of a tween girl named Riley. Her emotions—Joy, Anger, Disgust, Fear, and Sadness—floundered as her family relocated from suburban Minnesota to San Francisco.” However, they all fount out they each have a purpose, even Sadness, whom Joy had tried to limit to keep Riley feeling happy and positive.

“Inside Out 2” does some similar ideas as now 13-year-old Riley, voiced by Kensington Tallman, experiences more emotional turmoil. Kalfrin said, “But anyone who appreciates the shorthand emotional intelligence of the original will love the clever way the film depicts and handles what happens to Riley once Anxiety takes over.”

The beginning shows Riley, an energetic ice hocky player, playing a game as feelings Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Liza Lapira), and Fear (Tony Hale) take turns at the emotional controls inside her. Kalfrin said, “Like a fluid unit, Anger steers when Riley charges ahead with the puck while Disgust steps in when she grabs the wrong mouthguard.”

The feelings celebrate as Riley and her best friends, Brie (Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green) and Grace (Grace Lu), catch the attention of the high school coach famous for leading the undefeated Firehawks. When the coach invites the girls to a weekend hocky camp with other potential and current teammates, Riley is ecstatic – until puberty arrives.

Puberty announces itself with an alarm and a wrecking crew that makes more room in HQ for more feelings – and makes the emotional console way more sensitive. Now the slightest touch from Anger and Disgust show Riley getting frustrated, to her mother’s alarm. (Kalfrin admitted, “I was mildly curious who pilots the console during Riley’s period—a huge hallmark of puberty for girls—but the filmmakers dodge that altogether.”)

Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke, shows up, literally with so much luggage. With her are the tall Embarrassment (Paul Walter Houser), a mostly silent feeling who slouches inside a hoodie, Envy (Ayo Edebiri), and Ennui (Adéle Exarchopoulos), who lays across a chaise lounge and can control the console from an app on her cell phone.

Kalfrin described, “Bright orange, Anxiety is the least-humanoid of the feelings, with scraggly hair, pinhead green irises, and a wide mouth of gapped teeth.” She chugs energy drinks in a case, a fast-talker with projected scenarios for every possible future outcome. Determined for Riley to make a good impression at camp, she soon discards Riley’s old sense of self, along with Joy and the other original main feelings. She throws them toward the back of the mind, where Joy took it upon herself to throw other unpleasant memories.

As Joy and the others find their way around the Stream of Consciousness and other areas, Riley feels the effects of Anxiety controlling her actions. Writer-director Kelsey Mann, a longtime storyboard artist and writer making her film debut, and writers Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein nicely create the visual humor and puns around Riley’s insane emotional changes.

The animation – always bright and colorful – shows more tone, with orange appearing more in real life as Anxiety grows stronger. Kalfrin said, “The music by Andrea Datzman (Zootopia, Inside Out) also becomes more complex, incorporating more pop and rock with touches of Michael Giacchino’s original twinkly score.”

Though made as an antagonist, Anxiety is impossible to hate, with Hawke’s serious tones showing her good intentions. She wants what’s best for Riley. Kalfrin said, “She forces Riley’s imagination to work overtime, keeping the poor girl up at night, and starts to craft a new sense of self that’s all sharp edges and mantras like, “I’m not good enough”—nothing like the person Riley used to be.”

Kalfrin continued, “The rest of the voice talent is stellar, showing degrees of personality. As Joy, Poehler’s chipper bossiness gives way to uncertainty and realization; Smith’s Sadness melts into empathy, and even Black finds—dare I say?—the upside of Anger. Among the newcomers, Exarchopoulos stands out as Ennui, shambling around to deliver infuriatingly vague responses that any teen’s parents will recognize.”

Like the previous film, “Inside Out 2” gives some emotional ideas inside an entertaining and relatable part of life. We all have varieties, and balancing them is how we grow.

I highly believe this is better than the first film. You can relate to Riley in every way possible with how she grows up. Especially with the new emotions that come in and try to dominate Riley’s thoughts, especially Anxiety. Everyone has anxiety, some suffer with it worse than others. Check this out in the theaters, you will love it, I promise you. This film is a contender for being the best film of the year.

Thank you for joining in on this review tonight. Stay tuned Thursday for the yearly “Independence Day Movie Reviews.”