Soul

Soul (2020)

95% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 358 reviews)

Runtime: 110 minutes

Directed by: Pete Docter/Kemp Powers

Starring: Plenty of famous voices

From: Disney/Pixar

I almost went to The Great Beyond while driving to the cinema to see Soul! Let me explain: the trip there required time spent on a rural two land road. I was heading East; imagine my shock at the crest of a hill when I see a westbound vehicle passing another car on a double-yellow, meaning it was heading towards me! “Astoundingly reckless” doesn’t even begin to describe that buffoon… it was a near-miss, although it did rattle me for a few minutes. Regardless, I was still happy to have finally seen Soul for the first time. I know, I know; my high rating only exposes my foolishness in not experiencing this much sooner, especially after catching a few minutes of it at a waiting room in ’21.

Notwithstanding, the first viewing being in a cinema when the movie had only been on Disney+ beforehand… it was a treat. After the short Burrow (it was charming; one day in the future that will be reviewed), Soul began; as most aren’t 3 years behind the curve like me, the plot does not need to be dwelled upon. Joe Gardner was a flawed yet incredibly likable protagonist as a jazz musician who dies right after receiving the chance of a lifetime and thus wants his soul to return to Earth, while 22 was thankfully never irritating to me as a soul who is determined to stay in The Great Before. The growth that both experienced throughout was one of the reasons I swooned over the film.

The jazz music that’s heard throughout (from Jon Batiste) was tremendous; so was the ambient synth music from Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross. If you had asked me 20 years ago if the Nine Inch Nails guy would later compose multiple movie soundtracks-winning two Oscars for doing so-including a Pixar film… I’d never have believed it. The animated worlds were all stellar, whether it be on Earth or the more abstract worlds. Who knows what the kids of today think of such concepts as determinism, free will, personalities, fear of death, regret, & enjoying the beauty of life; to me, it was presented in a way where most could understand it. Furthermore, the humor landed often; I was not expecting a diss towards an NBA franchise that were in dire straits at the time, let alone mentions of Archimedes & Carl Jung.

I’ve only watched like 1/3 of the Pixar feature length output; thus, I can’t accurately state how closely this falls into what may say is “a standard Pixar formula” that appears to exist since Disney purchased the company way back when. Even I have noticed how many of their pictures feature two characters teaming up to go on an adventure… in this case, the movie felt fresh & was one heck of an adventure.