In 1990, 21-year-old Pete Docter was given an animation job at Pixar Studios after being recommended to John Lasseter. Pretty quickly, he started working on some of the company’s early successes, including being a key writer on Toy Story. Docter got his first chance at directing with 2001’s Monsters, Inc., which was a massive critical and commercial success. Years later, Docter got to direct yet again with 2009’s Up, which got him his first Academy Award. He earned his second Oscar for his third directorial outing, 2015’s Inside Out, and quickly started planning his next film. Despite taking on more responsibilities at Pixar, Docter started developing his next project, which would focus on more existential themes. Along with up-and-coming writers Mike Jones and Kemp Powers, who received a co-directing credit, Docter fleshed his ideas out further. After numerous delays due to COVID-19, Soul was released to Disney Plus.
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Synopsis
Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) is a middle school band teacher who feels stuck in his life and is seeking fulfillment. He dreams of being a famous jazz musician much to the ire of his mother Libba (Phylicia Rashad). One day, he gets an opportunity to perform at a jazz club with renowned musician Dorothea Williams (Angela Bassett). Unfortunately, he falls down a manhole to his death and ends up in the “Great Beyond”, though he escapes. He ends up in the “Great Before”, where new souls are prepped for life on Earth by soul counselors. He gets paired with #22 (Tina Fey), an unborn soul who doesn’t see the value in life on Earth. With her help, Joe tries to escape the “Great Beyond” and return to Earth in time for his gig. However, much like life itself, nothing is simple, and some body-swapping hijinks ensue.
Review
Compared to Pixar’s Onward, which was released earlier this year, Soul is an overall better film in so many ways. While that film was treading on the already explored ground, this film offers a very unique take on its themes. Soul deals with themes of our own existence, like what is our purpose, are we fulfilled, and what is living? This is one of the film’s strongest and weakest attributes, as it’ll appeal to older audiences more than young children. While the best family films should appeal to audiences of all ages, most kids probably won’t understand its themes. Inside Out worked because children and adults understand the challenges of growing up, and Up dealt with the age gap. Obviously, I’m not suggesting that children are too dumb to understand, but many of Soul‘s themes are fairly complex. Still, I applaud Pixar for being more experimental with this film.
As with many of their recent films, the animation here is amazing, perfectly balancing cartoonish designs with realistic lighting/textures. Considering the history of racist caricatures in animation, it’s impressive to see how respectful and detailed the characters are. Speaking of, many of the characters, particularly Joe Gardner, are memorable in their own ways and wonderfully acted. Not only did Foxx and Fey do a great job as the main characters, but Bassett and Rashad were exceptional. Admittedly, the character of #22 did come off as grating at times, but she eventually warmed up to me. Also, the whole body-swapping plot point initially threw me off, but the way they used it worked for the story. While not as great as Toy Story, The Incredibles, or Docter’s other works, this is still one of Pixar’s best. Overall, Soul is a wonderfully animated look at what it means to live.
Watch Soul on Disney Plus: https://bit.ly/2L2CsMj
