Yes, yes, this is a fine film. But I feel like Pixar crossed a threshold when the filmmakers there realized that they had the power to make fully grown adults weep like tiny babies pretty much at will. At some point hitting you in ALL OF THE FEELS became the prime directive and the more complicated emotional pleasures of masterworks like Toy Story 2 and The Incredibles became a little passé. Full disclosure: I prefer Cars to Toy Story 3, and if there must be a Toy Story 4 I’m cautiously psyched to see John Lasseter in the director’s chair, since he seems to understand better than anyone there (save perhaps Brad Bird) how to get the balance just right. I’m don’t know what it is about Toy Story that makes my eyes water while Inside Out just makes me brace against its gentle manipulations, but there is a difference. Maybe it’s that I seeInside Out coming from a mile away, but Toy Story‘s comedy is so divertingly chaotic that the emotional cloudbursts pretty much sneak up on me. Maybe it’s that I’m getting older, or just that I’m not a parent. I don’t know. (Finding Nemo leaves me cold, too.) But Ratatouille is the last Pixar film that meant a lot to me. I hope it happens again.

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