Richard Kind

Those bright sparks at Pixar have done it again, taking a fiercely original approach to animated filmmaking that connects with both adults and children. Intriguingly, this movie will be a very different movie depending on your age, because it explores the point where childish happiness gives way to more complex emotions. The basic idea may not be completely original, but the way director-cowriter Pete Docter (Up) approaches it is inventive, provoking constant laughter and even a few tears.

It's set inside the mind of 11-year-old Riley (voiced by Kaitlyn Dias), where the control room is run by Joy (Amy Poehler), who struggles to keep the darker emotions in check. Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust (Phyllis Smith, Bill Hader, Louis Black and Mindy Kaling) aren't easy for Joy to manage. And when Riley's parents (Kyle MacLachlan and Diane Lane) move the family from Minnesota to San Francisco, Riley's difficulty fitting into her new environment causes serious turmoil in her mind. Joy and Sadness find themselves lost in the recesses of Riley's memory, and must team up with Riley's forgotten imaginary friend Bing Bong (Richard Kind) to get back to headquarters, where Fear, Anger and Disgust are making a mess of everything.

As expected, the animation is simply gorgeous, combining bright colours and all kinds of textures to create both the real world and the expansive universe inside Riley's head. These things will provide both laughs and thrills, while grown-ups will also engage with an extra psychological layer of meaning, as Joy and Sadness travel through abstract thought to get to the imagination and ultimately to dreams, which are like a full-on movie studio that uses memories to create sleep-time blockbusters. There's also a brief but freaky visit to the subconscious. Through all of this Joy and Sadness discover that they need each other to function, which adds a surprisingly moving kick to everything that happens along the way.

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An inventive take on the rom-com genre, this genuinely hilarious film is even more engaging because its characters and premise are unexpectedly honest. It also has a level of realistic unpredictability, as the feisty characters refuse to behave like the people we normally see in the movies. And the story is consistently laugh-out-loud funny even as the plot is essentially very serious.

It centres on struggling stand-up comic Donna (Jenny Slate), whose regular venue is an open-mic bar in Brooklyn where she's offered moral support by her sparky pals Nellie and Joey (Gaby Hoffmann and Gabe Liedman). She may not make much money, but she has a great life. Her boyfriend (Paul Briganti), on the other hand, is tired of being the butt of all of her best jokes. So he dumps her. Donna reacts by having a meltdown on-stage and then getting drunk in another bar with Max (Jake Lacy). He may be a stranger, but he seems like a nice guy, so she takes him home. A few weeks later she discovers that she's pregnant, and her emotionally supportive friends and parents (Polly Draper and Richard Kind) can't help her make the big decisions ahead of her.

This is a film about a young woman finally taking responsibility for her own life, facing up to some difficult responsibilities and moving forward. But since this is a comedy, it's of course not very smooth sailing. Slate plays the role with impeccable comical timing, somehow making the rather pathetic Donna thoroughly likeable. And the actors around her add crisp humour exactly where its needed, providing much more than mere comic relief: each one is an integral element in Donna's journey. One of the most cringe-inducing sequences features the terrific David Cross as a predatory old friend who offers Donna a riotously messy distraction.

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George (Damon) has a gift: he can see into the afterlife and help people communicate with their lost loved ones. But he feels it's more like a curse.

Meanwhile in Paris, star journalist Marie (De France) has just recovered from a near-death experience. Instead of working on her planned biography of Mitterand, she instead starts investigating why accounts of after-death experiences are so shunned. And in London, pre-teen Marcus is looking for ways to communicate with recently deceased twin (they're played by Frankie and George McLaren).

Continue reading: Hereafter Review