Despite their different quality, the two “Inside Out” films represent everything that the Pixar animation studio is all about. We find ourselves in the head of young Riley, first a child, then a teenager, and a team of different emotions tries to process her fate and put her on the right path.
Now there is a Disney+ series called “Traum Studios” (since December 11th), which is set between the plot of the two films, so to speak. For the first time, however, the focus is not on joy, grief and anger, which in the films experience exciting adventures in Riley’s complex brain landscape. Instead, the focus is on dream directors.
They have a very different approach: While Paula is responsible for children’s magical dreams, there are also filmmakers who stage dreams of success or nightmares.
“Everything’s Inside Out” series “Dream Studios”: Funny and sentimental
The high-quality series maintains the humor of the films and finds a way to transfer the sometimes precocious, but often very touching mixture of nostalgic sentimentality and psychological lesson to individual episodes. For example, saying goodbye to a pacifier is shown as an emotional journey that will not only be deeply remembered by young Riley.
The crux of the not necessarily original story is that dream boss Jean brings into play the requirement to produce age-appropriate dreams. While Paula hesitates because she can’t get cheesy enough, Janelle is eager to stage her absurd ideas as night fireworks for Riley. To help Paula pull herself together, she is given an assistant (Xeni), who sees herself more as an indie filmmaker.
The plot already suggests that the strength of “Dream Studios” lies in not even touching on the clever starting point of the films, but rather finding a niche area in which an exciting story can still be told. As the title already suggests, it is also a nice parody of the Hollywood dream factory. Unlike previous Pixar films, there is no sarcastic criticism of the studio world here.
The first Pixar series without a film will be released in 2025
For Pixar, the “Inside Out” series is just a comparatively small training ground. With “Monster at Work”, “Dug Days” and “Cars on The Road” there have already been series spin-offs to successful films from the creative company. In February 2025, Pixar’s first original series, “Win or Lose,” will start, which is about a softball team at a school.
Pixar boss Pete Docter (director of the first Inside Out film) calls it a “comedy about love, rivalry and the challenges we all face when trying to win in life.” That doesn’t say much in and of itself, but “Win or Lose” is likely to be one of the most exciting series of the coming year.