Inside Out 2 offers Riley a stronger role

In the original Inside Out, the Pixar film beautifully tells the story of the emotions within eleven-year-old Riley's mind as she undergoes events in her life, such as moving away from home to a new place and the emotional struggles she experiences in the face of the new environment without anything familiar to rely on outside of her parents.

It was a fantastic story, and perhaps the most emotional that Pixar has ever developed as it offers devastating scenes such as Bing Bong's death, a metaphor for the end of Riley's childhood as she grows up, and Sadness taking control of Riley's mind as she finally allows herself to break down to her parents and let go of the need to feel happy all the time.

However, Inside Out 2 arguably does a better job of portraying Riley as her own individual character than the original film. The introduction of new aspects of the mind, such as Riley's sense of self and the belief system, offers a new and more grown-up approach that helps understand how Riley views herself and the world around her.

In the original film, the audience watches Joy make decisions about how Riley should react to things, and then the viewer sees Riley execute those actions. Or, the audience watches Fear, Disgust, Sadness, and Anger debate the best way for Riley to respond.

It is a fantastic portrayal of how the events of Riley's life are entirely out of her control, placing her completely in the position of reacting to the changes and new experiences. Riley's parents expect her to be happy, even though the news keeps getting worse, so Joy is determined to live up to that, no matter how much Sadness wishes to break through. But, in Inside Out 2, the events of the movie allow Riley to feel more like she is involved in her own decisions and is given more agency, in part due to the introduction of Anxiety.

Only after Riley discovers that her life will change again as she enters high school does Anxiety become a more significant part of Riley's mind. At this point, for the first time, the audience actually gets the benefit of seeing Riley have her own motive or desire in comparison to the first movie, where Riley exists in the role of reacting to the events happening around her.

Riley's uncertainty about the future leads her to believe that joining the high school hockey team is a guaranteed way to make sure that she will not be alone. It is a reasonable fear, especially for a character who had already experienced growing apart from longtime friends after moving away from Minnesota.

Riley, as a person, is offered more moments that portray her as a realistic, goofy, awkward, and anxious teenage girl who is just trying to figure out who she is as a person, what she wants, the best way to get it, and understand her place in the world. Rather than framing Anxiety as a villain, Inside Out 2 takes a more complex approach, recognizing that for as much as Anxiety might feel like a villain, in the narrative of the film, this is a character whose goal is to help Riley achieve her want of making the hockey team and making new friends.

Portraying Riley's relationship to Anxiety and how Anxiety influences Riley's desire to ensure that she will have a place in school adds another layer to this character and creates a person who can be relatable to the audience even when Riley makes questionable decisions.

Putting Riley's sense of self into question causes Riley to fundamentally challenge her decisions and actions in an emotional climax that comes across as very honest to the character and how the events of the film, in the real world, and within Riley's head, have all cumulated into the conclusion of the movie.

In this movie, Riley is not just a vessel to portray the highs and lows of emotional responses. Inside Out 2 works to give Riley a stronger role in her own story. In the first film, Riley's emotions come across as relatable. But, in Inside Out 2, Riley comes across as relatable, and it allows the audience to have a stronger connection to her as a person.