Inside Out - 2 nominations

Animated Feature -Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera
Original Screenplay - Screenplay by Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley; Original story by Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen

Inside Out is the incredibly funny, moving, delightful tale of Riley, an 11 year old girl who moves to San Francisco with her family and the 5 emotions in her head who help her manage life.  Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust do their best from their Headquarters in the brain while Riley copes with such a difficult life transition. When an accident occurs at Headquarters, Joy and Sadness must go on a journey to preserve Riley's core memories.  A key message of the film is that life is complicated and while we should be positive and look through an upbeat lens, all of our emotions are valid and important, and denying those are to deny being human.  Not bad for an animated feature, eh?

Each member of the cast voicing the 5 emotions does it so perfectly, and as expected, Louis Black as Anger gets all the best lines.  The movie is so clever and such a new way to look at life, particularly noting that as one matures the complexities of our emotions evolve to include new combinations previously misunderstood by younger children.

It's thrilling to see Inside Out get a screenplay nomination and frankly, it would have made more sense as a Best Picture nominee than Mad Max did.  Still, for some animated films, you definitely need a child or two to act as your cover for why you are watching them, if you're like me and happen to love all things animated.  But Inside Out is not one of them.  It has maturity and an authentically funny script and you should see it - no child required.