Over the years, I’ve learned, deservedly so, to trust Pixar. While I wouldn’t put Soul quite in the studio’s upper echelon, it’s a beautiful film about life, death, connection, and passion. And yeah, true to form, I both laughed and cried.
Joe Gardner has been an aspiring jazz musician for his entire adult life, paying his bills as a part-time band teacher while he auditions for gig after gig, always chasing his long-awaited big break. He thinks he’s finally found it, after so many years… when a clumsy accident suddenly finds him in the afterlife, hurtling towards the Great Beyond. Desperate to get back to Earth, Joe stumbles into the Great Beyond’s counterpart, the Great Before, where souls are formed and prepared before being born on Earth. He strikes a deal with the jaded Soul 22 to try and help him get back home and into his body in time for his gig, but the resulting adventure affects them both in ways neither could have anticipated.
We’ll start with the part that needs to be said: given that Joe is Pixar’s first Black protagonist, it’s disappointing that Pixar pulled a Princess and the Frog and has him spending the majority of the film separated from his Black body. There’s a pattern of that kind of thing with animated protagonists of color, and it’s really weird and aggravating. That said, we are given a good look at the life Joe inhabits back on Earth, and the film fills out the Black community that surrounds him with vibrancy and care. I like that – while this is a story where Joe didn’t “have to” be Black, the details of his life are culturally specific, from the jocular ribbing of the barber shop to the magic of the jazz club to the cheeky affection of the ladies at his mother’s seamstress shop. Joe isn’t a raceless character who “just happens” to have a Black face; his life is his own, and his culture is an integral part of that.
The story is a little bit Coco, with its beautiful meditation on life, death, and human connection, and a little bit Inside Out, with its wildly-inventive take on a high-concept existential space. I love the minimal-line-animated “Jerrys” that manage souls in the Great Before and facilitate the journey to the Great Beyond, and the realization of humans on Earth being “in the zone” or becoming “lost souls” is really neat. I also like the themes of a soul searching for their “spark” before they head to Earth and the exploration of what that means. I feel like the best movies about death often have the most poignant things to say about life, and that holds true here.
But for all the philosophical/spiritual/psychological stuff, it’s also a rollicking good time. The fluid, jazz-infused score keeps things moving, there are sight gags and physical comedy aplenty, and a healthy number of adult-friendly jokes are threaded throughout (I love the recurring gag of 22’s past “mentors” who’ve tried to help her find her spark, bringing historical figures from Abraham Lincoln to Mother Teresa to their wit’s end.) Also, Joe and 22 make a delightful duo together. It’s not as simple as the passionate human Joe and the cynical soul 22, and as their dynamic twists and shifts throughout the film, they bring both humor and heart.
An able voice cast brings the various characters – humans, souls, and celestial adminstrators alike – to life. At the center of things are Jamie Foxx as Joe and Tina Fey as 22, maintaining a fun comedic chemistry together while also bringing warmth to the quieter moments. I love the sweetly-offbeat benevolent Jerrys played by Alice Braga, Richard Ayoade, Wes Studi, Fortune Feimster, and Zenobia Shroff, along with the obsessively-number-cruching Terry played by Rachel House, and Angela Bassett is an absolute queen as the imperious jazz legend Dorothea Williams. The film also features the voice talents of Phylicia Rashad, Questlove, and Daveed Diggs.
Warnings
Scary moments for kids, a tiny bit of gross-out humor, and thematic elements.
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