Pixar’s Inside Out 2 (released June 10, 2024) was a hit this summer in movie theaters, earning $1.6 billion on a $200 million budget. It’s one of the few films keeping movie theaters running at a time when Netflix and other streaming services are dominating view time. It’s no surprise then for Disney to waste no time getting the movie released in digital formats as a “home premiere.” The movie arrived on August 20th, including in 4k UHD with Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos, three weeks ahead of disc formats.
A follow up to Inside Out (2015), Kelsey Mann makes his directorial debut in the sequel along with an all-star cast reprising their roles as the emotions that influence the lead character, Riley, played by Amy Poehler. The screenplay was written by Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein based on the story conceived by Mann and LeFauve.
In Digital 4k UHD, Inside Out 2 is presented at 3840 x 2160 resolution with High Dynamic Range (HDR) offered in Dolby Vision and compatible with HDR10. The movie offers wide dynamic range, good contrast ratio without loss of detail in highlights, and deep color depth especially in hard-to-reproduce colors such as hues of pink, purple and green. Sharpness is quite good especially in closeups where details such as eyelashes, hair, (and Riley’s braces) are pronounced.
Even though an animated film, Inside Out 2 was created and color graded with a cinematic quality. Look for heavy shadow areas and low key lighting that resembles a live action drama rather than traditional high key animated films and shows. Colors pop off the screen though, and gradients are smooth for a digital image with more compression than a disc that can deliver larger bitrates.
The audio is offered in Dolby Atmos surround sound which enables three dimensional placement of effects across an appropriately distributed speaker system. The movie is mostly front and center balanced as the story is heavy on dialogue. As a result, surround effects are somewhat sparse.
However, the effects while Riley and other hockey players are skating in the ice rink are immersive. When Joy says “Don’t listen to Anxiety” around 41 minutes there is a nice echo effect in the control room, and the following scene when headquarters erupts in disarray brings some of the best Atmos effects.
The colored orbs scene presents a great opportunity for surround effects and an immersive environment especially when the team of emotions get pulled under water at around 1 hour and 14 minutes. The music composition by Andrea Datzman also makes use of the sound stage, effectively distributing orchestral movements through front, rear and side speakers.
Inside Out 2 is available to purchase in Digital 4k UHD from Apple, Amazon Prime Video, FandangoAtHome, Microsoft TV, YouTube, and other digital retailers. The movie releases in physical media formats including 4k Blu-ray on September 10, 2024.
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