Usually, Pixar films are geared towards children, despite being accessible to adults. Soul, however, seems the opposite: made for adults and accessible to children. It’s a return to form for Pixar, whose middling Onward dropped earlier in 2020. Soul not only has the hallmark imaginativeness you have seen in the likes of Inside Out and Coco, it is also the most unapologetically Black Pixar film yet.
Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) is a school band teacher, but he wants to do more with his life. An aspiring jazz musician, he finds his prayers answered when he gets the chance to play for a legendary musician, Dorothea Williams (Angela Bassett). However, he soon drops down a manhole and finds himself on a moving belt taking him to the Great Beyond, where souls go after death. Panicking, he tries to escape and ends up in the Great Before, where souls are equipped with personalities and the “spark” of life before being sent to Earth. Joe is mistaken for a famous Swedish psychologist and he is saddled with mentoring 22 (Tina Fey) a stubborn, bratty soul who doesn’t want to go to Earth. Joe, of course, is still trying to go back to Earth, and with 22, he finds out a way to do just that. Of course, things don’t end up going exactly as he expected.
Like Inside Out before it, Soul presents a unique, accessible version of metaphysical concepts. Some of the designs are very inspired, such as the two-dimensional, shape shifting Cubist counselors, who are all named Jerry (except for a particularly ornery accountant named Terry). Then there’s a free spirited mystic without borders, Moonwind (Graham Norton), who sails a pirate ship through the “Zone”, where people who are deep into their work or passion get lost in.
Like Inside Out before it, Soul presents a unique, accessible version of metaphysical concepts. Some of the designs are very inspired, such as the two-dimensional, shape shifting Cubist counselors, who are all named Jerry (except for a particularly ornery accountant named Terry). Then there’s a free spirited mystic without borders, Moonwind (Graham Norton), who sails a pirate ship through the “Zone”, where people who are deep into their work or passion get lost in.
There’s a comedic twist halfway through the movie that reorients the narrative and takes it to interesting places. 22 finds her spark for life and Joe almost makes it to the club for his debut performance with Dorothea Williams, but then Terry, who has been on Joe’s tail for a while, catches up to them. Still, Joe manages to wriggle out of the Great Before and make it to his performance, but he feels strangely empty after what he had hoped would be the big break his life needed to change everything. Life, it appears, is about going through moments instead of waiting for something big to happen.
While the ending is heartwarming, director Peter Docter takes the easy way out by giving Joe a miraculous second chance, probably because otherwise the ending might be too much of a downer for kids.
At the end of the day, Soul doesn’t hit as deeply as, say, Inside Out does, but it’s still a return to form for Pixar. Its subject matter has been probably tackled before, but Soul puts a new spin on it that feels both fresh and intuitive. Despite its outlandish setting, the film also feels remarkably down to Earth in the way it approaches Joe’s life. It’s hard not to see a bit of yourself in Joe, especially if life hasn’t turned out the way you expected it to, and its message about enjoying the moments is a good takeaway for adults in Joe’s shoes.