Author and speaker Priscilla Shirer says the animated film Inside Out 2 conveys a biblical message that shouldn’t be missed. Shirer said as much in an Instagram video on her feed shortly after she and her family watched the Disney/Pixar blockbuster, which follows the story of a 13-year-old girl named Riley who is experiencing puberty and facing a flood of new emotions for the first time in her life. The film gives viewers an up-close look at her anthropomorphized emotions: Joy, Fear, Sadness, Disgust, and Anger, along with new emotions, Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Boredom.
Late in the film, Anxiety takes over Riley’s emotions.
“There’s this one part where Joy looks Anxiety in the face and says, ‘Let her go.’ I’m just saying I felt something in my spirit right there,” Shirer said. “I’m saying that the Spirit of the Living God might have been in that one line right there. Joy said to Anxiety, ‘Let her go.’”
“I’m saying the joy of the Lord is your strength,” Shirer added. “I’m saying that the Scriptures say, ‘Be anxious for nothing.’”
Inside Out 2 has exceeded expectations at the box office, grossing $154 million domestically in its first weekend and more than $450 million to date, making it the year’s biggest movie as it easily edged second-place Dune: Part Two ($282 million).
It’s the sequel to the 2015 blockbuster Inside Out, which chronicled Riley’s journey as her family relocated from the familiar Midwest to an unfamiliar new home in San Francisco.
In Inside Out 2, Riley enters puberty and heads off to a summer hockey camp with her friends. While there, she experiences a flood of new emotions -- primarily Anxiety and Embarrassment -- before she rediscovers Joy.
It stars Amy Poehler as Joy, Kensington Tallman as Riley, Tony Hale as Fear, and Phyllis Smith as Sadness. It is rated PG for thematic elements.
Related Article: 3 Things Parents Should Know about ‘Inside Out 2’
Photo Credit: ©Disney/Pixar/Instagram/PriscillaShirer
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.