Review | Film review: Pixar finds form with the mind-bending Inside Out

Arriving on the back of muted applause for Pixar's last three films (Cars 2, Brave and Monsters University) and shortly before the opening of its troubled production of The Good Dinosaur, Inside Out has a lot to live up to.

It is thus with much joy — if not also a receding touch of sadness and fear — that we report the animation giant's first outing in two years to be a sensational return to form. Helmed by the ever-reliable Pete Docter (Up, Monsters, Inc.) with co-director Ronaldo Del Carmen, this spirited movie is a tour de force in bringing enchanting form to abstract ideas.

What makes Inside Out and other Pixar animated movies so special

Set significantly more "inside" than "out" of the brain of an 11-year-old girl, this surreal, if somewhat scientifically precise, picture of human consciousness turns a mundane family situation into a head trip that will entertain and enlighten children and adults.

After the happy-go-lucky Riley (voiced by Kaitlyn Dias) moves with her parents (Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan) from her cosy habitat in Minnesota to a lifeless new house in San Francisco, she's forced to leave her best friend, quit her hockey team, start at a new school, endlessly wait for the moving van to arrive and, appallingly, put up with the broccoli-topped pie at a local pizza parlour.

Inside her brain, five personified emotions — Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling) — have been vying for control in front of what looks like a spaceship dashboard, with Joy being the long-acquiesced leader until the shock of Riley's recent move coasts through the pre-teen's system.