What he did in creating an innovative world of characters to explain the nightmares of a toddler in in “Monsters Inc.,” Pixar director/writer Pete Doctor has done again in “Inside Out” to explain the pre-pubescent mood swings of a girl trying to deal with having to adjust to a new school and life when her parents move their family from Minnesota to San Francisco.
The cleverly comedic, yet often very poignant story obviously resonates with audiences, which plunked down the most money ever for an original movie in its opening weekend, with $91 million in North America alone. That’s Pixar’s second biggest opening ever after the $110.3 mil. of “Toy Story 3,” according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.
But it still wasn’t enough to unseat another 3D colossus, “Jurassic World,” also in IMAX 3D, which generated a stunning second weekend haul of $100 million-plus with $102 mil., only the second time that has ever happened.
The dino-mazing numbers put the movie at nearly $400 mil. domestically and poised to surpass $1 billion globally in a record 11 or 12 days.
“Inside Out” also delivers some of the most prominent, and thus effective, 3D images ever for the studio that has been among the most conservative in its use of the format.
This “Inside Out” world is a perfect vehicle for 3D with the amusement park-like world inside the brain of the young Riley featuring a cast of characters of emotions led by Joy (Amy Poehler). The roller-coaster connections to islands of feelings, the “Train of thought,” the vacuum tubes for storage of balls of memories, and the clown-like Bing Bong (Richard Kind) all benefit from the enhanced depth, separation and audience immersion of 3D. As is often the case, that impact could even be much stronger if filmmakers would be more brave about pushing it further. But this little step in a Pixar movie is encouraging.
As is also often the case with Pixar, the 3D is used even more effectively in the latest original short that precedes “Inside Out,” another poignant story called “Lava,” presenting the unusual concept of a volcano as a character. The male volcano is portrayed lonely and spends its life singing a silly but sweet lovelorn ditty for a volcano mate (“…send me someone to lava”), which ultimately erupts just a bit too late and oriented in the wrong direction.
In fact, the entire package with “Inside Out,’ including the trailers, is a 3D feast, with the “Minions” trailer really making the most effective use of 3D, pushing objects out into the audience for comedic impact. And the 3D in trailers for “The Peanuts Movie” and “Hotel Transylvania 2,” as well as teasers and trailers for upcoming Disney & Pixar movies “Zootopia” and “The Good Dinosaur” were also impressive.
— By Scott Hettrick