In memory of Vanessa Yasintha Wambura (August 2003 – August 2023).

Everyone has little voices inside their head. Aside from how they may sound from the outside, what’s going inside may completely differ or not. We all at some moments hear voices in our heads, operating our emotions and our reaction to things. They are much like small people working in an office watching your life and reacting to things, sending a message to your body.

And we kids have them as well! Where am I getting to? Let me tell you… On Thursday June 26th 2015 I went to the movie theater with my best friends to see the newest Pixar animated movie ~ Inside Out! This movie directed by Peter Docter and produced by Jonas Rivera, is a fast-packed, family comedy. Not only is it super hilarious, but it is super touching and entertaining! A bunch of emotions were going through my head watching and even thinking about this spectacular movie!

The movie revolves around the mind of a young girl named Riley (played by Kaitlyn Dias). Riley has a great life, her parents support and encourage her, she plays for her town girl hockey team, she has and awesome best friends, she’s super goofy and honest and family means the world to her. Riley experiences emotional chaos as her life began to change and she has to deal with it. She has 5 main emotions in her head: Disgust, Fear, Joy, Anger and Sadness. All emotions were played by different characters. They live inside Riley’s head and operate her emotions, reactions, thoughts, and memories.

Riley’s personality in her mind is metaphorically translated to Islands: Family Island, Honesty Island, Hockey Island, Friendship Island and Goofball Island. As the movie goes on, the memories find themselves rocked in conflict in ‘The Headquarters” amidst the control centre of Riley’s brain over how to deal with it. The Core memories are a no zone policy! They are special and cannot be lost, or Riley’s personality will crash!

Riley soon moves to San Francisco to a small house, she leaves her friends and her hockey team behind with high hopes of a great new house! Unfortunately she is disappointed to find a small house. Sadness soon starts touching Riley’s memories and turning them sad. Causing Riley to feel stressful and sad more often, soon Sadness troubles cause her and Joy to get sucked into the tube with Riley’s core memories and taken to the Personality Islands, leaving Disgust, Fear and Madness behind to steer Riley’s life…UH-OH now Joy and Sadness must race to get back to headquarters before Riley’s Island starts tumbling down! With the help of Riley’s long forgotten imaginary friend Ping-Pong they learn courage, determination, teamwork and one of the best emotions you could wish for, Hope.

This is truly one of the best movies I have ever watched and I strongly recommend it. It taught me to listen to the voices inside my head and to never lose hope or faith. I liked that the movie was spread through many different perspectives and problems, and the metaphors they used to represent these issues. The genres for this movie are, Family, Comedy, Family-Friendly, Entertaining, Touching, Emotional etc. I rate this movie 5 stars! It’s definitely relatable and good for all ages.

Safe Summers,

Vanessa Wambura.