SOUL REVIEW

 *MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

Pete Docter is best known for directing the Pixar animated films, Monsters, Inc., Up and Inside Out, with the latter two winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Because of this, there was a lot of excitement surrounding his latest animated feature, Soul, which was supposed to be released in cinemas earlier this year, unfortunately, after cinemas were forced to close worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Soul’s release date was delayed and it was soon announced that it would be released on the streaming site, Disney+ on Christmas Day. Prior to its official release, Soul has received a positive reception from critics with many regarding it as Pixar’s best film yet. 

Joe Gardner (voiced by Jamie Foxx) is 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 (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 answer to some of life’s most important questions.

With Monsters, Inc. he showed us a world where monsters were afraid of humans. With Up, he broke our hearts with one of the most moving opening sequences ever created before taking us on an exciting adventure. With Inside Out, he gave us an insight into our emotions. Now, with Soul, Docter continues to establish himself as one of the most imaginative directors and has created a thoughtful and heartfelt animated feature. 

Many animated films are aimed more at children and are filled with immature jokes and a predictable and unoriginal story, making it a dull watch for older viewers. However, with Pixar’s films, I’ve always appreciated their ability to appeal to viewers of all ages, with their unique premises and thematic stories. This is certainly the case with Soul, which will, most likely, be enjoyed more by older viewers. Earlier this year, Pixar released Onward, a fun, fantasy animated films that was full of adventure. I think that Onward will appeal to children more because of its lighthearted tone and adventure filled story. However, Soul is the better film due to its thematic and meaningful story. 

As is usually the case with most of Pixar’s animated features, the strength of Soul lies in their animation. A lot of hard work and effort has clearly gone into making the animation, which brings the busy location of New York City to life and also giving viewers an insight into the unique worlds of the Great Beyond and the Great Before. Those who live in New York City will be impressed at seeing their home city explored and captured in a realistic way. I’ve never been to New York City, however, the animators clearly think fondly of the city and the visuals perfectly bring it to life. The animation is at its most imaginative when it’s exploring the unique worlds, including The Great Beyond. What I’ve always liked about animation is that there is no limit to one’s imagination and that’s the case with Soul. With The Great Beyond and The Great Before, Docter has created two unique worlds filled with fascinating and strange characters, including the soul counsellors who are all named Jerry and Moonwind (Graham Norton), a spiritual and eccentric sign twirler who helps Joe and 22. For 22, the animators created a distinctive design, as the character had not been on Earth but has begun to evolve. Pixar animators created an "unprecedent" technique of line drawing to complete the film's screen image. 

Soul is one of Pixar’s most significant features as it’s the first to have an African American in the main role. It is quite shocking that their animated films are lacking in terms of race and skin colour, with the majority of their main characters consisting of anthropomorphised animals and white people. Pixar was mindful of the history of racist imagery in animation, and set out to create characters who were recognisably black while avoiding the stereotypes in old cartoons. Acknowledging this effort, Docter stated that there's a “long and painful history of caricatured racist design tropes that were used to mock African-Americans." As a way to highlight the ethnic diversity in the living world, the animators used lighting. They also sought to capture the fine details of these black characters, including the textures of black hair and the way light plays on various tones of black skin. Animators used footage of several music performers, including jazz composer Jon Batiste, performing as reference for the film's musical sequences. An aspect of Pixar’s features that never fails to impress is their animation and that is true of Soul. The animation in Soul highlights how far Pixar have come since they made their first animated feature, Toy Story, which represented a breakthrough when it was released in 1995. 

Soul is one of Pixar’s most meaningful films as it explores themes of identity and self worth which will resonate with a lot of people. I can imagine many viewers relating to Joe as he struggles to follow his dream of being a successful jazz musician. The story is also really inspiring as it sends out the message of following your dreams. 

Prior to watching Soul, I was expecting it to be serious due to its mature themes, however, I was surprised by how funny it was. Most of the humour comes from 22 who ends up in Joe’s body while the latter ends up in a cat’s body. This makes for an amusing sequence as 22 awkwardly struggles in Joe’s body. While this sequence is where Soul is at its most entertaining, it’s also very touching and poignant, with 22, in Joe’s body, having a meaningful conversation with his barber, Dez (Donnell Rawlings). There’s also a moving scene between Joe and his mother, Libba (Phylicia Rashad), who doesn’t approve of Joe’s desire to be a jazz musician. Although children will probably find the story too complex to follow, I think they’ll enjoy the fun sequence that sees 22 stuck in Joe’s body.

An important part of animation films are the vocal performances. If an actor simply reads the lines instead of performing them, it could impact the viewer’s connection to the character and overall quality of the film. Fortunately, most of the cast deliver strong performances. Foxx captures Joe’s passion and determination to be a jazz musician, making him an easy character to like. Fey, a talented comedienne, is, unsurprisingly, witty as 22, who has no desire to live as a human on Earth, however, when she ends up in Joe’s body, she finds pleasure in the simplest of things including food, music and nature. Irish chat show host, Norton, is perfectly eccentric as Moonwind, with British comedian and director, Richard Ayoade, delivering a dry but no less funny performance as Jerry, one of the soul counsellors.

Although several of their sequels, including Incredibles  2 and Toy Story 4, have been successful, Soul proves that Pixar are at their best when they’re creating meaningful animated features that have a unique premise. There’s no question that Soul will be nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards next year.

With a unique premise and outstanding animation, Soul represents one of Pixar’s most meaningful and thematic films yet.

8/10