#familyfriday | Inside Out

I understand we're a little behind on this movie. I think it's about to come to DVD this week. We finally had an opportunity to go out on a date night and see this little tale!

If you haven't seen it yet, the basic plot line is that each emotion a person has - joy, sadness, anger, disgust, and fear - are personified in a character in the person's head. They each take turns controlling the emotions of this little girl as she's growing up.  

Her Review:

Going into this, we heard some great things about this movie. And overall it was pretty cute and the concept was Ingenious. I mean, seriously, who hasn't wondered what was going on in someone else's brain? 

For me, this movie hit close to home for two reasons. One of them being that Hadassah is growing up and she is becoming her own person. Sadness was really controlling my board of emotions as we were watching it. (See what I did there?) 

And second, I was the same age as Riley when we moved from Indiana to Virginia. Watching this movie was like watching a replay of what was going on in my mind 13 years ago! It brought back a lot of memories and how hard that time was for me and my family.  

Overall it was a good family movie. Clean. Funny. Some good moral issues that were wrestled with throughout. Parents, you may want to bring some tissues, but also be prepared to have some good laughs! 

His review:  

This didn't hit home for me the same way it did for Hannah, but it was very hard to watch it and imagine my little girl growing up, and her core memories and even her core beliefs slowly crumbling into the dark - even if, in the end, she rebuilds those beliefs and becomes a better person. 

I appreciated the perspective they took on our emotions. I think there's a tendency to view some emotions, like sadness and especially anger, as being "bad." But ultimately they are neutral, and the good and the bad is derived from how we use them. But unfortunately I don't think the movie portrays Riley as having much if any control over how her emotions are used. As we grow older, we should gain more and more awareness of our emotional tendencies and be able to control ourselves better. 

Some questions for your Shabbat table talk:   

What are the roles that emotions play in our lives?
How much control should we give them?
What is a situation in which you always lose control of your emotions?
What is a healthy way to work through emotions? 

Have a peaceful and blessed Shabbat!