Loved it.

Like really loved it.

Unlike most Disney movies with orphans and princesses and villains and the like, the main character in this film is simply a little girl…with two parents….who moves across the country. The stress of her move—a stress that all of us can identify with in one way or another—sets off a series of events inside her emotional headquarters (where her key emotions are personified into cute little animated characters) that result in a profound lesson, one that ultimately leads to a control panel upgrade as she presses on in growing up.

The movie is for adults as much as for children. I’m kinda in love with it and am already planning out in my head which scenes I could play on my iPad in a therapy session.

While it’s all fresh in my head and I await when I can order the DVD, here are some discussion questions our family came up with tonight as we talked more about it.

Bookmark these questions or save an image of them on your phone. Go see the movie as a fam, and head out for milkshakes afterwards and discuss a few of these amongst yourselves. And, feel free to justify the ticket purchase price as family therapy.

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• Name Riley’s islands [Answers: Family Island, Honesty Island, Hockey Island, Friendship Island, Goofball Island]. What are some of the islands you might have? Can you guess what islands your mom or dad might have?
• Riley’s Headquarters is staffed by Anger, Fear, Joy, Disgust, and Sadness. Which of those emotions do you think is most important for Riley? Why? How about for you? Why?
• Be creative! Draw a picture of your Headquarters and the emotions that could be at your control center.
• Joy explains that every emotion has a job. What is fear’s job? What can happen with too much fear or too little fear?
• Riley isn’t aware of all that’s going on inside of her head although it drives her words and body language. Can you identify with that?
• When Anger takes over your control panel, what does it look like for you in words and body language?
• Why do you think Riley chose not to tell her parents what she was thinking and feeling? What good resulted when she was able to in the end?
• Can you think of a time you felt two different emotions at the same time? Can you remember feeing scared and happy at the same time, for example? How about angry and sad?
• Do you think Inside Out has a happy ending? Why or why not?
• Share a memory you have that you really hope never goes to your “memory dump.”
• What role might God play in Headquarters? Do you imagine Him as just another cute little character fighting over the controls, or do you imagine Him in a different role entirely? Explain!
• Last but not least…sing a little song that keeps coming back to your Headquarters and see if you can get it stuck in everyone else’s!