Inside Out

The hit of Cannes 2015 may also be the festival’s most ingeniously cerebral offering. Admittedly, amidst all the solemn glamour, it just so happens to boast a cast of characters with complexions ranging from bubble-gum blue to Ribena violet.

At last, the impatiently anticipated animated fantasy Inside Out has premiered to collective critical joy (a rare and magical thing indeed).

The Best New Children's Animation

Brought to us by Pixar studio's dizzyingly accomplished team, director Pete Doctor and executive producer John Lasseter, these cinematic innovators prove once again to be the Willy Wonkas of the animation world.

Head animator on Toy Story, story writer of Wall-E and director of the Oscar winning Up, Doctor has created some of the best loved, most critically successful films of all time, transcending their 'kids' demographic through sheer brilliance.

Inside Out: film plot

None more so than his latest feature. Inside Out follows 11 year Riley as she's unwillingly moved away from the happy small town of her childhood to San Francisco, when her father starts a new job. The upheaval sparks a crisis within Riley, and it's this internal conflict behind her eyes, which is brought to life before ours. For within Riley's mind, as in everyone's, is a headquarters where feelings – Anger, Fear, Sadness, Disgust and Joy, watch over and guide her. Inside Out essentially takes the idea that decisions are made by the voices in our heads – our emotions, and runs to glorious heights of animated story telling.

An innovative concept from a talented team

Doctor's most original concept yet, Inside Out has also proved to be the most artistically challenging – conceptualising what emotions might look like as autonomous characters – entirely from scratch. Equally complex is the script. Co-written by Doctor and Meg LeFauvre, it's a dual narrative of both the domestic drama that Riley and her family inhabit, and the quest unfolding inside the little girl's head.

Inside Out: film cast

Of course, Doctor & Co's wizardry might have fallen short were it not for a voice-cast to humanize their magical concept. What better character actors, then, than two of Saturday Night Live's funniest exports, Bill Hader and Amy Poehler who play 'Fear' and 'Joy' respectively. Comedians Lewis Black (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart) and Phyllis Smith (The Office) are Riley's 'Anger' and 'Sadness' with one woman comic conglomerate Mindy Kaling (The Mindy Project) rounding out the band as 'Disgust': Inside Out reaps the benefits of the cast's comedic background.

Coupled with their endlessly inventive visualisation of a person's mind, and a story wise beyond adult years, the Pixar team have produced a necessary pleasure to be re-visited at every stage of life. Inside Out was one of the best films on at the cinema this summer.