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Disney walked a delicate tightrope in promoting the tender drama intrinsic to the plot while emphasizing the funny in the trailers. Finally and most important, they added the perfect song to build to an appropriate crescendo, Boston’s 1970s classic, More Than a Feeling. While Pixar deserves all the credit for the movie, Disney proved itself a worthy partner in the pre-release phase of Inside Out. Their pride over the quality of the project imbued viewers with confidence that this would be an instant classic Pixar release.

Early reviews also accomplished this task. Potential fence sitters learned in the days prior to the film’s release that was a masterpiece. The first 108 reviews for the film were glowingly positive. Then, some jerk ruined its perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes. Inside Out eventually “settled” for a 98% Fresh Rating. 296 out of 301 film critics who have reviewed the film gave it the proverbial thumbs up. Only one Top Critic on the site disliked Inside Out. Audiences agreed with these assessments. Inside Out currently claims a spot in the top 100 movies of all-time on IMDb.

Why does the story resonate so much? Inside Out delivers a heartfelt yet neutral evaluation of one of the oddest aspects of the maturation process. Children always long for the day when they’ll be able to do all the adult stuff. Simultaneously, grown-ups lament the days of yesteryear when they didn’t know all the things that they hate that they know now. By placing Riley in an unfamiliar setting, people get to watch her to try to find her place in the world, but Inside Out does more than that.

For the first time ever, a major animation studio embraces the task of examining depression. Pixar evaluates the root cause of unhappiness while tossing in the occasional warm hug to keep viewers engaged during Riley’s struggles. Notably, Inside Out adapts a profound piece of wisdom as its central storyline. Without Sadness, there can be no Joy. Part of a child’s development is finding a functional marriage of these seemingly conflicting emotions. No matter where anybody stands on the overall quality of the film, everyone should agree that what Pixar attempts is so ambitious and daring that they deserve extraordinary praise for their boldness.

Of course, this business is a numbers game. That’s the real reason why people will remember Inside Out as a complete triumph. Thanks to the restored faith in the Pixar brand and glowing early reviews, the film opened to $90.4 million domestically. In the process, it broke the record the largest tally ever for an original film property, eclipsing Avatar’s record by $13.4 million. Amusingly, it also set a second, slightly dubious record. Due to the juggernaut of Jurassic World winning the weekend, Inside Out also became the largest opener not to finish in first place.

When all was said and done, the Pixar redemption project became their third most popular ever domestically, grossing $356.5 million. Its global take of $853.6 million supplanted Monsters University to make it the third best Pixar performer overall. It also wound up as the sixth most popular film of 2015, over $250 million larger than the second biggest new property of the year, The Martian. Since that title was based on a book, the gap between Inside Out and the next most successful original idea of the year, San Andreas, was $380 million. That’s how staggering a triumph Inside Out was.

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