I have mixed feelings (pun intended, if anyone even smiles at it).
On one hand the concept is still interesting, although utterly flawed (same as in the first movie). And the idea behind the the sequel is good on paper, as well. I mean, puberty does result in a lot of changes in personality for a lot of us, if not all, and exploring it along with the representations of the feelings is even exciting, especially considering how good the first movie was.
On the other hand... It kind of lost its magic, maybe? Not sure what it is, but it was not exciting me at all. It did not feel as bad as Thelma, but it's a far cry from Ratatouille, too. There was an expansion of the rules to this universe (makes sense to me), but those changes were extremely abrupt and they were introduced almost as a matter of fact, while in original it was actual exploration. A journey of discovery. Sequel completely lost this.
What's worse, some (kids at least) may also start thinking, that this is how puberty is, and how feelings actually work. Like there is a switch and everything changes all at once, and every little thing can become part of them. Which is not the case. There are no abrupt changes, but you do need to get used to some new emotions, that you start getting as you grow, and not all of them may be pleasant, but they are all normal, and part of you, and you need to accept them.
And while the movie does end up delivering the message of self-acceptance of duality of self, it completely brushes of an important tool in dealing with the emotions: talking to your friends and family. Yes, family is kind of out of equation with the premise of the movie (although they could have been used at the end of the movie), but friends (old ones, at least) - are not. The girl is also rewarded in the end of the movie, which does not make any sense, regardless of how good she performed, because most likely trainer had other reasons to consider Riley "not ready".
This was a very important topic to touch, and to teach about, and I think the movie just blew the opportunity out of the window by playing things safe. Maybe they did not even have any psychologists or psychotherapists or whatever to help guide them, which would make complete sense, especially, considering that the main "antagonist" is anxiety, which affects more and more people nowadays. In the end this leads to just a "meh" movie compared to "really good" one, that the original was, no matter how flawed the concept is.
