For over 25 years Pixar has taught us some valuable lessons inside their animated movies. Lessons like abandonment, saying goodbye to someone you love, family, growing up, death and so much more. Pixar has been the strongest animation company when it comes to product, beautiful storytelling and incredible animation and over the years there movies/animation has gotten better and better. Yes they had a couple of bumps in the road but they overcame those bumps and showed the world that while they may be owned by Disney, they kind of overshadow Disney when it comes to storytelling and putting out memorable new films. Disney and Pixar the last decade have put out so many memorable and loveable films but Pixar somehow manages to be able to tell very adult stories for the young demographic to learn. Most recently Pixar had a film come out that might have been thought to be targeted for children because it is an animation, but it felt more targeted for teens and even adults. Many people voiced their opinions towards this movie and for good reason. This film gave us a story that had multiple meanings, to follow your purpose in life and go after what you are passionate for, but it also told us to live our life and not let one thing be your heart’s desire in life. Soul was a movie that people thought had a very valuable lesson or it was a movie that gave a very existential meaning towards life. Soul was my number one favorite movie of 2020 and I never really explained in full detail why and I wanted to wait to put out an actual review as I wanted others to see it and feel something from its message but also because I needed time to process my thoughts for the film. Pixar really opened my heart and mind with this movie and opened me up to future possibilities in life. But we will get to all of this throughout this review, so without wasting any more time, let’s review Pixar’s Soul.
*SPOILER WARNING AHEAD*
Soul is honestly a beautiful film and it defiantly is one of the more mature films that is under the Pixar lineup and of all the animated films that I did watch last year, this one gave me the emotions and feelings I needed to feel when watching an animated movie. I think the reasoning to that is because I felt a spark with the film’s message but at the same time I am in my mid 20’s and I kind of connect not with the main character of the film, Joe Gardner, but more with 22 and I will explain why later on but if you saw the film and know her story then you can understand why I might of connected with her.
Soul was directed by Pete Docter and was created by Docter, Mike Jones and Kemp Powers. Mike Jones and Kemp Powers are new to the game with working with Pixar but they still did a very amazing job for working on their first Pixar film. For Pete Docter however, he has been with Pixar for many years and has helped create some of the most beautiful films. In fact Docter has been with the company since 1990 and helped write the screenplay for Pixar’s most iconic film, Toy Story. He has directed three films prior to Soul that are all considered the greatest Pixar films ever. These films are Monster’s Inc., Up and Inside Out. Up and Inside Out are examples of more mature films for Pixar as both include very mature messages that kids can learn but won’t quite understand until they are a bit older. Soul takes that same approach and Docter used his creative genius in filmmaking and storytelling and he puts on such an incredible journey for this film. The voice cast of this film is amazing and while not everyone in the voice cast gets their time in the spotlight, they do a fabulous job and deserve a lot of credit. The cast of this film includes Jamie Foxx (Joe Gardner), Tina Fey (22), Graham Norton (Moonwind), Rachel House (Terry), Phylicia Rashad (Libba Gardner), Donnell Rawlings (Dez aka Joe’s barber), Questlove (Lamont “Curley” Baker), Angela Bassett (Dorothea Williams), Daveed Diggs (Paul), Cora Champommier (Connie) and Alice Braga, Richard Ayoade, Wes Studi, Fortune Feimster and Zenobia Shroff (the 5 Soul Counselors of the Great Beyond aka Jerry). I also want to give a quick shout out to the film’s music composers as the music in this film is both beautiful and one of the greatest musical scores in animation history. So I would like to honor and shout out Jon Batiste, Atticus Ross and Nine Inch Nails lead singer Trent Reznor for creating such beautiful music for this beautiful film. Soul came out last year and 2020 was a year where everyone struggled with something in their life and others possibly found something they really love to do during this hard time and became very passionate about it. This movie, its story, can connect with many people, especially in 2020, because of its message and what it is trying to tell its viewers.
The beginning of the movie pretty much introduces us to our lead character, Joe Gardner. Joe has a dream of playing Jazz and we find out that it is his lifelong passion. However when we are first introduced to Joe Gardner we learn that he is a middle school music/band teacher. Early on we get to see how much Joe loves music as yes he is teaching middle school kids how to play certain musical instruments, he has this love for music where when he plays the piano he literally gets lost within the music. He has a full time job opportunity to teach kids in the school music but he only wants to do one thing and that’s become a jazz musician. The beginning of this film really shows us the love Joe has for music and how passionate he is about it. His mother doesn’t believe that it is a financially good job to be a musician and thinks taking a full time job as a music teacher would be better. I actually want to come back to this in a little bit so were going to continue on. Joe then gets an opportunity to make his passion become a reality as there is an opening to play the piano for the legendary Dorothea Williams and Joe knows that this can be his only chance to show off his passion for music and playing jazz. While at his auditions we see Joe get lost within the music while he is playing the piano and it impressed Williams, thus earning him the opportunity of a lifetime to play with her band later that night. However after he leaves the audition and after we see his excitement, Joe unexpectedly falls down a manhole, leaving us to wondering if he has died or is in a coma. He ends up becoming a soul that is heading towards a white light called “The Great Beyond”, which is pretty much a non-religious way for Disney/Pixar to say “Heaven”. The way we watch Joe go from being so excited about this huge life opportunity to it being taken away from him in a snap is perfect storytelling. Joe finally got a chance to do something that he been waiting forever for and it’s taken away from him for reasons we won’t understand. I feel like it’s more of a sign that he shouldn’t let this gig and passion takeover his life but once again we will come back to this because there is a lot I need to talk about for this film.
Joe Gardner and 22 pretty much make this movie what it is. They are the main focus of the film and their character dynamics and relationship throughout the movie play a big role with both their character developments but also the change in tone for the movie’s story. When we first meet 22 we are in the Great Before, a place where unborn souls begin their new life. For 22 she doesn’t care about life and she doesn’t care to go to earth and create a life for her own. I don’t want to talk too much into detail about their time in The Great Before because I don’t want to talk about the entire film, so I am going to skip to the part where both are in “the zone”. So the zone is pretty much a place where souls enter when their passion puts them into a trance, but it’s also a place where lost souls go. They meet Moondwind, a man whose soul is in the zone because of his passion for, and I’m not kidding, being a spiritual sign spinner. Anyway he finds a way for Joe to go back to his body on Earth but by accident Joe takes 22 with him and now 22 is in Joe’s body and Joe is in the body of a therapy cat. While she is in his body she begins to have a feeling of what life is like in a human body or in this case she begins to feel life. She eats food for the first time, talks to people that care about Joe, she gets to see how people interact with each other with certain situations. Joe is also learning about himself as a person when she is in his body as he begins to realize that he’s been so obsessed with his passion to become a jazz musician that he forgets about life and the people involved in his life like Dez, his barber, who always talks to him about music but when 22 was in his body they talked about what Dez’s passion was and how happy he is to be a barber. There is also a scene where Joe and 22 head to Joe’s mothers tailor shop. Joe’s mother, Libbia, constantly talks down to Joe on how he wants to be a jazz musician and tells him that he needs to start thinking about a full time career because his father was the same way and she doesn’t want him to fail like his father did and Joe, or 22 with Joe’s words, tells his mother off and tells her that music is his life and that if he died today that his life would mean nothing. A lot of people deal with this situation, where a parent or someone they really love wants them to do something that they don’t want to do and they don’t understand why they really want to go for this one thing instead of the thing that their loved one or parent really want them to do and this emotional scene shows it perfectly and yes 22 was in Joe’s body for it but Joe’s heart and soul was there talking the whole time. Soon after she accepts him for going for his passion and is on his side because she wants him to be happy. Pete Docter really needs more credit right now because my god this one scene in general is very powerful and emotional and Docter’s beautiful screenplay really helps make this scene more powerful and quite possibly leave a few tears.
While 22’s character really developed while she was in Joe’s body, Joe’s however develops slowly, in fact he was still obsessed with getting back into his body so he get make it to his gig and play music. 22 finally begins to actually feel life in his body and she doesn’t want to go back to the Great Before because of it. They have an argument and 22 runs off and Joe chases after her in the subway station. Both are captured by Terry, the soul counter from the Great Beyond that came to earth to bring Joe back to the Great Beyond as he was a missing soul. Once they enter back into the Great Before we learn that 22 found her spark on Earth and earned an Earth badge, a badge where the new souls in the Great Before can use to go to Earth. The spark represents a soul being ready to live, but to Joe he believes it is a purpose in life/passion. 22 gives the badge to Joe to go back to Earth because Joe said that she never found her purpose on her own but because she was in his body and living his life that was the main reason why she found her “spark in life”. This then leads to 22 to fall into a deep depression and go into the zone, thus turning her into a lost soul. The reason for this is because she found her spark on Earth, she lived life and she became a soul. Joe meanwhile goes back to Earth and goes to his gig and finally gets to perform and in the end he doesn’t feel any different. In fact when he asked Dorothea Williams what’s next, she replied “same thing the next day”. Earlier I mentioned about there being a possible sign of Joe not letting this gig and passion take over his life and right here is why I mentioned it earlier and want to talk about it now. You see Joe always obsessed with getting a jazz musician gig and always tried to make his life towards playing music. The problem is he never just tried to live life and he always thought that his one purpose in life was to play music but that’s not true at all. If you are passionate about something like Joe is with music then yes you should work your way there to do what you are passionate about, but don’t make it the number one priority in your life. That should be your goal in life and something you know will happen in time. Until then you should learn to live your life, accept who you are now, enjoy the little things in your life and once your time comes and your passion becomes a part of your life just remember that you might not like the end point of it or you will figure out that your passion shouldn’t be your purpose in life but living your life and knowing that one day your passion will come true should be your purpose in life. This movie is telling us, the viewers at home, something we need to learn. You should always enjoy life and just live for the moment. Don’t let one thing take over your life because that’s not how life works. Docter and the team behind the creation of this movie wanted to teach this lesson to every age and I think in the end they do a great job at teaching a life lesson.
The final few scenes of the film are very powerful as Joe goes back to “the zone” to help save 22 as she has become a full blown lost soul and doesn’t think she has any purpose in life. Joe shows her that she does and in the end she goes to Earth because Joe sacrificed his own life so she can begin hers. Joe is then heading to the Great Beyond until one of the Jerry’s gives him a 2nd chance to live. The reason was because he inspired them after he gave 22 a chance to live and Joe returns to Earth and begins to enjoy his entire life. Now I know a lot of people thought the ending of the film was kind of not so special because they felt like once Joe saved 22 and helped her go to Earth then that would be considered the ending. I’m not upset with how Docter ended the film; quite frankly I love the ending because Joe already performed jazz music and got to live out his passion. Now he can live his life however he wants to. Many people kind of believed that Pixar jumped the ship a bit with the ending and even thought it wasn’t as emotional as when Joe saved 22 and gave up his own life just so 22 can start hers. I can see why people thought that’s how the film should have ended but I kind of like this ending more because Joe learned a valuable lesson not just about his life but life itself. Was it emotional, no but not every Pixar film needs to have an emotional ending like Coco or Toy Story 3. I feel like this ending kind of leaves us wondering on what’s next for Joe and even 22 and I like that because it leaves us on a high note. Joe gets to live his life as he not chasing his dreams of being a Jazz musician anymore and he can begin to live. And for 22, while we might not know how her life will being, we know that she is ready to live life on Earth finally and enjoy it.
Now I mentioned earlier that I felt more connected with 22 instead of Joe and there is a big reason why. For 22 her character was always told that she wouldn’t do anything in life. Yes in the film they were souls of famous people that walked the Earth like Muhammad Ali or Maria Antoinette but they all kind of gave up on her and didn’t try hard enough to help find her spark for wanting to live life and Joe kind of did that. However later on in the movie he kind of falls under the same category of all the other souls that tried to help her, instead for him it hit harder because she lived life but because she was in his body she lived his life and her spark was pretty much because she was able to live life and enjoyed it and without it she really doesn’t have a purpose in living life. 22 then becomes depressed and becomes a lost soul that believes she has no purpose in life. I can kind of connect with that as for a long time, even today, I still don’t believe I have a purpose in my life. I have been a victim of people saying I can’t do this or I will never achieve this and I believed them. It actually fucked with my head a lot and I became depressed because of it and there were moments where I didn’t want to be alive. I struggle with this today because at first my passion was playing baseball as I was a good pitcher and had some sort of talent. But unfortunately I was cut during tryouts for college and kind of lost my passion for it. There was also a time where I wanted to becomes a baseball broadcaster and I had dreams of it but no one really believed in me and I just gave up on it myself because of it. Like 22 I struggled with finding my spark in life and to feel like I have a purpose in life and I still do today from time to time. I’m going to be 26 in September and I want to have a career in voice acting and not many people have said to me that I can do it or achieve in the business of voice acting. Others push me to go for it but there are these voices in my head that tell me you can’t do it and you will fail. I really connect with 22 because I never really found my spark in life, my purpose in living and I constantly say to myself that I don’t have a purpose in life, I’m a fuck up and this movie came out and kind of opened my eyes a bit with this situation. I now want to fully be a voice actor and yes it will take time to achieve this goal but I’m going to work on it and eventually, hopefully, I can one day voice a character in an animated Pixar film or Disney or anywhere. I never really tell people this because it’s something I bubble in and never talk about so I guess you can say I can now be open with people about my struggles because of this movie and because of this review.
I love this movie because I could connect with it a bit and I have to say while the story and message of this film is pretty mature and emotional, everything else about it is phenomenal. The setting of New York looks beautiful as I feel like I’m home when I’m watching the film. I know how New York is and let me tell you Docter did a fabulous job in not only showing how life is like in New York but he depicted it perfectly from the huge buildings to the angry people on the Subways. I also liked the Great Beyond/Great Before settings as it looks very beautiful and you can defiantly tell this is Pixar’s way of depicting Heaven without making it religious. I also loved the animation and lighting/shadows in this film. The animation in general is so beautiful and the colors from the setting to the characters look so amazing and I love how the film can look beautiful in both the Great Beyond setting and even in the New York setting. An example of great lighting/shadows is the scene where Joe is performing with Williams and her band you can see the sweat from the lighting and the way it’s animated is so phenomenal and plus add in the shadows behind them, it literally looks real even though its animated. Also I love the designs of the characters from the human characters to the souls/Jerry’s. I think they all look very unique and are colorful and full of life. I don’t think the character designs is the strongest suit for the film but I still think they look very incredible and I will constantly think now I will become a blue soul when I pass away or get stuck in the zone.
I honestly love this film and believe it is one of Pixar’s strongest films since the company began making feature films. It’s not in my top 10 Pixar films just yet but maybe after many more viewings it can one day become one of my top 10 favorite Pixar films. But in general this film really took a big risk in creating a film that talks about death but also talks about life. A lot of people are mixed with the film because of how existential the film’s message/story was and how deep the film got with the topic of “finding your purpose in life” and I feel like Docter’s true plans for this film was to kind of teach the viewers at home, whether they are the key demographic of 7 and up or adults who are my age or older who are still trying to figure out this whole “life” thing and his main focus was to teach them that you need to live your life and enjoy the little things in life. I say this for a reason because during the scene of Joe playing piano in his apartment and having flashbacks of his life, we kind of see him enjoying the little things in life like spending time with his mom or dad, teaching a young Curly how to play the drums or just him enjoying a train ride, he was living life and enjoying the little things and was happy. Yes you should go after what you are passionate about but you can’t over obsess with trying to make your passion your life because one it’s not healthy but two you might not like what happens next once you reach your passion in life. For Joe he wanted to be a jazz musician and thought his purpose in life was to play music, but it’s not his purpose in life, it’s just a passion and goal of his that he wanted to achieve and make a living doing. Your purpose in life is what makes you want to get up in the morning, life decisions, sense of directions, the little things in your life that make you happy and want to live and that’s’ what this film is trying to tell everyone. We all have that spark in us that makes us want to live life and enjoy our lives. This movie really puts this topic in a very mature manner, hence why I believe this movie is more for the younger adults, maybe even teens and adults in general and it could be an early learning experience for younger children so when they do get older they know the benefits of enjoying life and living and that you can reach your passion and do whatever you want, it might not exactly feel how you thought it might feel after you reach your passion/goal, but that’s how life works sometimes. But you shouldn’t fight to reach your goal and make your passion your career, just don’t make your whole life depending on reaching that passion. Enjoy everything in your life, enjoy the little things, find what makes you happy and just know you will reach your passion in life in time.
Once again I have to give Pete Docter and the rest of the production team a huge shout out as this film literally opened my mind and taught me a lesson about life, a lesson that I should have known by now but needed to learn by watching an animated movie. Not everyone is going to agree with how this film was put together or the message that is being said in this film. That’s okay because everyone has their own opinion, especially with the topic in hand for this entire movie, but in the end of the day Docter really took a big risk with this movie and I think it was critically praised well because of it and yes many people were on the fence with the ending and the message about life but I think we can all agree that in the end of the day this film is a beautifully animated film that took big chances into making this story being very mature for its key demographic. Plus big bonus points for Disney to stream it for free on Disney Plus so everyone can watch this beautiful masterpiece, as long as you have a Disney Plus account of course lol. And this was also Docter’s last film as a director as he has been recently promoted as Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer (CCO), so not a bad way to end your filmmaking career than by making a beautifully animated/storytelling film. Honestly I hope whoever reads this review watched the movie because if you haven’t and still wish too then please do because you may learn a thing or two about life and possibly about yourself after viewing the film.
Final Review: 4.6 out of 5 Stars, 96 % out of 100.
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