Soul

 

Release Date: December 25, 2020

Watch Date: January 27, 2023

"What is it that makes you...YOU? Pixar Animation Studios' all-new feature film 'Soul' introduces Joe Gardner (voice of Jamie Foxx) - a middle-school band teacher who gets the chance of a lifetime to play at the best jazz club in town. But one small misstep takes him from the streets of New York City to The Great Before - a fantastical place where new souls get their personalities, quirks and interests before they go to Earth. Determined to return to his life, Joe teams up with a precocious soul, 22 (voice of Tina Fey), who has never understood the appeal of the human experience. As Joe desperately tries to show 22 what's great about living, he may just discover the answers to some of life's most important questions."

    Soul is a beautiful movie.

    How Pixar went from telling stories about ants fighting grasshoppers to deep explorations about just what it means to be human, I'll never know? But I'm a fan of the progression, and I am a fan of this movie.

    This is one of those movies that, at least for a short while, will completely change your outlook on life. You will leave the movie enjoying the sensations of simply being in your house. You will be inspired to go for a walk. You will appreciate the people you love around you. You will close your eyes and enjoy each individual note in a song. It changes your perspective, it makes you grateful. It is not very often that a movie can do that, so we should be highly appreciative when one comes along that can.

    'The Great Before' is such a beautiful concept, and one that does not need to tie itself to any religious leanings. There is a soul, there is a before, and there is an after. The way souls differentiate themselves from one another, they way they are fine tuned, and needing a spark of inspiration before they are able to enter life? That's such a wonderful concept, and one that brings me peace, personally. Now, there are a lot of laughs played off in 'The Great Before' which is a good thing, I think, because that idea could have been an incredibly heavy-handed thing, but witnessing 22 share experiences with great historical figures, pausing the movie to see the name of every mentor they've ever had, that's an easy way to take something that could be a little existential and bring it into reality.

    As an aside, can I just say that I love the designs and the calming presence of the ethereal beings of the universe that manage The Great Before and the soul's journey to the Afterlife? It's wonderful to have put a friendly, relaxing, and welcoming face on such intense concepts.

    Joe's struggles to not see the forest for the trees in life are ones that are, probably, completely relatable to most humans, if we're honest with ourselves. How many times have we walked through our day in a fog, focused only on what's right in front of our noses, not appreciating the world around us? And setting his story in New York, a location that nearly always becomes it's own character in whatever film it's in? Well, for my New York born and raised husband, that just makes sense. There is no place on earth, I've been told, that makes you feel more alive than New York. I argue that since he spent his childhood in New York, and his teenage years in Kansas, that yea, New York would have felt pretty lively comparatively, but I'm wrong. Apparently.

    There was some struggle, when this film first came out, with an African-American man being essentially played by a white woman for most of the film, and while I understand that complaint - Tiana, the only African-American princess was nearly immediately turned into a frog, so Disney has a history of portraying African-American characters but not actually having them on screen - I think that the story it tells makes sense. While Tina Fey is a white woman, 22 is an ethereal concept, they are no gender, no race, because they haven't even existed yet. There is no reason for 22, the character, not to inhabit any body, because they haven't been born into their own yet, and we will never even know what point of the world they will appear in. Should Disney do better? For sure. But I don't believe that it's a hit against this movie that they chose not to start here.

    I am also a huge fan of the ending. We don't need to know how Joe's life continues on, the choices he makes. It is enough that he is happy to be alive, that he sees life through the eyes of someone who can actually appreciate the world around him, every experience. It gives us the ability to walk away from the film doing the same thing, and I can only hope that Joe holds on to that feeling and does not become numb to the world again.

    Soul came out on Disney+ at Christmas, so I don't know how many people actually took the time to watch it when it first came out. I don't know if it's flown under the radar for all these years. If you haven't thought about it, if you haven't watched it, like Bob, do so. You may just walk out of the experience a changed person.