 As the film went into wide release , it continued to attract acclaim . Aside from naming it the best film of 2015 , Kristopher Tapley of HitFix called it as " one of the best films of the 21st century . " A. O. Scott of The New York Times deemed the film " an absolute delight " , reserving particular praise for its " defense of sorrow , an argument for the necessity of melancholy dressed in the bright colors of entertainment . " The Washington Post 's Ann Hornaday considered it " that rare movie that transcends its role as pure entertainment to become something genuinely cathartic , even therapeutic , giving children a symbolic language with which to manage their <unk> emotions . " Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun @-@ Times found it " bold , gorgeous , sweet , funny , [ and ] sometimes heartbreakingly sad , " deeming it one of the best films of the year . Entertainment Weekly 's Chris <unk> extolled it as " transcendent and touching [ ... ] so smart and psychologically clever . " Time 's Mary Pols felt it a " nearly hallucinogenic , entirely beautiful " work that " defies the conventions of family movies . " Christopher Orr of The Atlantic urged readers to view the picture , calling it " Pixar once again at the top of its game , telling the kind of thoughtful , moving meta @-@ story it 's hard to imagine being produced anywhere else . " Wai Chee Dimock in the Los Angeles Review of Books compared the film to the work of neuroscientists Antonio Damasio , Dacher Keltner , and Oliver Sacks . 
