In the otherwise-normal world Pixar has flipped Inside Out, you’re never in charge of any of those troublesome emotions; it’s the emotions themselves that are in charge of you. “Joy” (Amy Poehler), “Sadness” (The Office veteran Phyllis Smith), “Fear” (Bill Hader), “Anger” (Lewis Black), and “Disgust” (Mindy Kaling, another Office veteran) are tiny, sentient humanoid entities messily smashing buttons and pushing levers in a control room where your brain would usually be, helping you respond to whatever happens around you with the appropriate emotion. Not that the right guy always touches the right control, but perhaps that’s just part of the job.

To most, this is a uniquely adorable way of representing to children how their feelings work, and how those feelings influence the decisions they make in life. To me as a burgeoning 12-year old, despite understanding that full well, and clearly recognizing it’s tucked within the comfort of a heartfelt Disney movie, the deeper implications of this concept had a slightly different effect on me.

I don’t really see anybody else having these concerns, but at the time, my only real takeaway from Inside Out was that every single life choice, emotional reaction, or personality trait isn’t decided by you, but a group of tiny people lodged in your skull you’ll never be aware of. God forbid anything happens to one (or, if you’re really unlucky, multiple) of those pesky mind-controllers, because your mental well-being—and even your most prized memories—could very well be destroyed. For good.

Even if all this sounds more fitting for psychological horror than whimsical children’s entertainment, it’s clear Pixar’s trying to sensitively simplify complicated aspects of our minds without talking down to its young target audience, to the point of looking to real-life psychologists (Paul Ekman, Dacher Keltner) for help. No matter the outcome, the film certainly deserves respect for that, even if its overall narrative does feel a tad too well-worn.

The central emotions Inside Out follows are located inside Riley, an 11-year old girl whose life is upended when her family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco. Despite how irritating the plucky adolescent’s current situation is, these emotions do a pretty impressive job keeping her positivity in check… until Sadness begins dangerously touching her “core memories” (visualized as shiny glass balls deposited out of large tubes) for absolutely no reason.

It’s clear this represents Riley’s fond vision of the past being tainted by her unstable current situation, but by the fifth time we hear Smith mumble “Sorry… I just wanted to hold it…” or “Sorry… this one looked a little crooked…”, it also bordered on a flat-out punchline. Describing the story from there would spoil it, but no matter if we’re following Riley or the journey through her mind, it doesn’t exactly stick out as much as the wacky concepts and ideas it’s propped up on.

No matter the faults with Inside Out’s script, however, there’s no denying the insane hard work Pixar puts into its consistently groundbreaking animation, and this film’s style hasn’t really aged one day. By sharply contrasting Riley’s dreary real world with the brightly colorful one her personified emotions journey through, two entirely different universes are made equally believable for audiences of all ages, even if the imaginary one arguably feels more creepy than charming.

Provided other children don’t see it that way (or, if they do, at least understand it’s nothing like how their minds actually work), perhaps Inside Out could be beneficial to helping them understand their own changing emotions. More likely than not, though, that’ll depend on the child itself, so as long as they don’t get the wrong impressions on how their minds function, don’t feel too nervous to let them watch it.