Recap: Riley a kid who has Anger, Sadness, Joy, Fear and Disgust as emotions when she was a kid, has been experiencing a normal life of a kid. We have ventured to see how a kid’s mind works and how we really feel those kind of emotions.

And this 2024, we finally see the next chapter of Riley’s life. She is now 13, a teenager, a growing little lady that is about to face so many challenges in life. And well, growing up means you are also discovering new things and creating new emotions ahead. This time, Riley is a teenager with new emotions. Aside from Joy, Sadness, Anger and Disgust, she gained new emotions such as Embarrassment, Boredom, Envy and Anxiety.

Of course, we all know that as early as 10, a kid will have different emotions, because this is the time the kid meets different kinds of people and while growing up, the kid will eventually become an adult and these new emotions will be her some kind of defense to whatever life throws at her.

I know we’ve seen so many reviews about the movie, detailing what happened, so I won’t do something repetitive, but instead, I will tell you how these emotions play important role while we grow up and why emotions like these can never be invalidated, especially our main character at the moment, Anxiety.

Before I do that, let me tell you what I think about the movie; All in all, the movie gained familiarity not only for kids but also for adults, many adult viewers have shed tears while watching the movie because they have felt the same emotions that Riley felt during those years in their lives, even until now, they still probably feel those emotions and these are valid.

The movie showed as how to value these kinds of emotions and understand why they are there. Riley somehow showed us a glimpse of our past and made us remember that yes, we felt these too before. I love how they try to mimic the life of a growing kid and an adult. However, such movies can only portray little things but not everything. I felt like this also deserves so much more, like more complex story than what we saw, because it was a brief one, when they could’ve done more than that.

There are also so many loopholes in the movie that I guess they wanted to keep these things hanging for us to wait for a third installment along the way. Let’s just say, I don’t think Riley’s best kept secret is only that one when she burnt the carpet. I also think there’s more applicable theories we could look into, like why Riley’s emotions are mixed of a male and female version while for her parents, her mom, has all female emotions and her dad has all male. Or the fact that Riley didn’t really look like her parents. I know, so many theories have surfaced out along the way but what do we know unless we wait for the new one to come out. We shall hope there’s another one. We need to see Riley’s growth until she finishes college and work.

All in all, I would give this a definite 90% wonderroanne rating, aside from it hits deeply in the core, it also showed us how that what we feel is valid no matter how small it is.

The realizations that I had while watching the movie is very relatable because I have experienced anxiety as early as 11 years old. I started to understand how it is very crucial for a kid to balance these kinds of feelings while growing up to become an older version of yourself. In reality, there’s a big stigma when it comes to mental health, we don’t really talk about it. But how many unwanted deaths, unexpected life loss will be there just for us to understand that this has to end; mental health should be addressed appropriately.

I know so many people who have gone to doctors to seek assistance, but I also know people that were still scared to do so, but why? Because society showed us how little people who are seeking help are; how vulnerability makes them weak and how they make us feel really different when you are having mental health issues.

Probably, this will never change but what I see now is that some people are trying their best to become aware of what is happening, they try to open themselves to vulnerability. There’s no way that we can change the society in a snap, but I am glad that the generation today is more woke than the previous generations. However, sadly, those who were born in the previous gen, they are still scared to face the reality of what their mental health can do, hence, there are many well-known people ending their own lives and are still having hard time talking about whatever they feel.

This has to stop, because anxiety grows with us, it can leave or it will live with us. There’s no such thing us ‘it will pass’ because it won’t unless you face it. This article is not only to talk about the movie but also to encourage those people who are still bottling their feelings inside to listen to yourself and seek assistance. Someone will understand you, someone will be there for you. We will be there to listen to you.