Inside Out Has A Small But Significant Chicago Connection

I had an emotional reaction to advance publicity for the new Disney-Pixar movie Inside Out.

There’s Fear, a strung-out Seuss-like guy with an elongated purple body and golf-ball eyes (voiced by Bill Hader); Disgust, a trendy, mouthy, green know-it-all (Mindy Kaling); Anger, bright red and built like a cross between Sponge Bob and a volcano (Lewis Black); Sadness, sweetly blue, and too predictably a bespectacled bit of a blimp (Phyllis Smith); and Joy, a golden-skinned sprite reminiscent of Tinkerbell (Amy Poehler).

If you see Inside Out, you definitely want to stay for the credits. The film’s funniest moments are there, vignettes suggesting that nature’s other creatures (think Fido and Fluffy) are driven by their own emotion teams. Also there: a thank-you to University of California psychologists Paul Ekman and Dacher Keltner, who served as consultants to Pete Docter, the film’s writer and director.