Pixar has a complicated history with sequels and franchise expansions. For every great one (Toy Story 3, Incredibles 2), there are a few that feel superfluous at best and just plain bad at worst (Lightyear, both Cars follow-ups). Thankfully, the studio’s latest, Inside Out 2, leans more towards greatness than redundancy and even though it falls short of being one of Pixar’s best films, it’s a worthy addition to the animation giant’s library.

The film picks up with Riley Anderson (Kensington Tallman) around the time she turns 13. The emotions we met in the first film are building a belief system and a sense of self for their young ward inside her mind’s headquarters. That all comes crashing down, though, when puberty strikes and some new emotions arrive to shake things up. Just as Riley sets out to attend a high-stakes hockey camp, her mind is in disarray and things get chaotic pretty fast.

Emotions Like Anxiety & Envy Bring New Layers To Inside Out 2

The stakes are raised, but the game is the same

A new group of emotions is swiftly introduced: Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, Ennui, and Nostalgia. Anxiety clearly runs the show and Maya Hawke’s voicework is as frenetic and lively as one would expect. Alongside Hawke is Ayo Edebiri’s Envy; they both steal the show as they try to take over Riley’s mind and cast Joy and her group aside. The stakes are raised considerably here, and it’s fascinating to watch Inside Out 2 tackle two emotions that are such a driving force today. Anxiety justifies her actions by saying she’s planning for the future, but her doom-thinking only makes things worse for Riley.

Embarrassment is too shy to stand up to Anxiety, Ennui too bored, and Envy too enthralled. It’s a much more fascinating group dynamic than the one between Joy, Disgust, Fear, Anger, and Sadness. Their workplace flow has already been established, and they’re old hats compared to the fresh faces in Riley’s headquarters. Inside Out 2 is, essentially, a story about the old guard and the new guard and how they ultimately have to work together to improve Riley’s life.

Inside Out 2 Is A Return To Form For Pixar

But it’s still a familiar form

Inside Out 2 retains the charm, humor, and fun of the first movie, expanding the world of Riley’s mind in interesting ways. A detour to the mind vault reveals Riley’s darkest secrets, while the ultimate goal to get to the back of the mind leads to a face-off between Joy and Anxiety that’s humorous and, well, anxiety-inducing. It’s new enough to not feel too familiar, though the sequel doesn’t go too far out of its way to expand the world beyond the new emotions. A few fresh concepts are introduced, but it’s the battling emotions that prop up the film.

Much has been made about Pixar’s recent successes and failures. The studio’s decision to put some of their movies on streaming during the pandemic caused backlash both from cinephiles and animators within the studio itself. Some of Pixar’s most acclaimed movies in years ended up on streaming (Soul, Turning Red, and Luca all went straight to Disney+), while the ones that were released in theaters (Lightyear and Elemental) were met with so-so responses from critics. The former struggled at the box office, while Elemental overcame the flop narrative to defy expectations and earn nearly $500 million at the global box office.

Over the last few years, though, the lesson learned from this seems to be the wrong one. The studio is banking on sequels and universal stories to get back on track, forgoing more personal, autobiographical stories like Turning Red and Luca for things like Inside Out 2 and Toy Story 5.

Inside Out 2 is the first of this new era for the studio and though it lacks the novelty that came with the original, it’s a formidable follow-up to the original film. Whether or not the world needs more sequels is a question for another time, but if they can all be more like Inside Out 2, then we might be okay.