Inside Out 2: Joy v Anxiety, puberty, and the big secret

Riley returns with new emotions and new concepts. Does it have the same impact as the first film? Is it an accurate portrayal of adolescence? And where’s Bing Bong?

• This article contains spoilers for Inside Out and Inside Out 2

Inside Out 2 has far exceeded expectations at the box office over the weekend, shattering records and massively boosting morale across the film industry. So, we know a lot of people went to see it, and that a lot of them in the US liked it (it got an A grade from CinemaScore, which tracks exiting punters’ reactions).

The elephant in the room is that the original Inside Out was a masterpiece. A best-part-of-a-decade-in-the-making masterpiece: immaculately structured, insightful, tight, funny and very moving. Matching that is an almost impossible task – right? We want your thoughts on how the new movie measures up to the old, and stands on its own terms.