"Soul" a special, meaningful, sublimely human celebration of life by Pixar

Soul (2020)

“Soul” is a prime example of Pixar functioning on multiple levels for all audiences. It is wonderfully entertaining, but also deeply profound, particularly for adults whose prefrontal cortexes are fully developed to question one’s purpose in life. Finding one’s reason for living through doing what you love but still finding time to enjoy every aspect of life might sound like a facile notion printed inside a fortune cookie, however, this is next-level Pixar in terms of sophisticated conception and execution. Following 2015’s “Inside Out,” director Pete Docter, co-director and writer Kemp Powers (2020’s “One Night in Miami…”), and co-writer Mike Jones have gone and made a daring, wise, delicately moving existential meditation and celebration of life through the prism of a lively, playful animated film. With its title being a double entendre, “Soul” is both a valentine to soul (jazz and rhythm & blues) and the spiritual energy of a human being. 

Jamie Foxx embodies the voice, heart, and soul of Joe Gardner, a middle-aged pianist and lover of jazz who has just been offered a permanent position as a New York school band teacher. He should be as thrilled as his practical tailor-shop owner mother (Phylicia Rashad), but he’s tired of never fulfilling his dream. When a former classmate invites him hours before a show with Dorothea Williams (Angela Bassett) at a jazz club to audition, he zones out tickling the ivories and gets the gig. Overdue for his shot and so excited about finally getting his chance, Joe obliviously evades plenty of death traps, only to fall into a manhole crossing the street. Joe isn’t dead, at least not yet, but his soul is untethered to his body, which is in a holding pattern. Rejecting the light that leads to The Great Beyond, he jumps into The Great Before, now rebranded as the You Seminar, managed by many counselors named Jerry and a soul-counting accountant named Terry (Rachel House). Matched up with the perpetually bored and uncooperative unborn soul, 22 (hilariously voiced by Tina Fey), to mentor her and prepare her for Earth. (Soul 22 is so rebellious that even Mother Teresa didn’t like her.) Until 22 gets a chance to live in Joe’s body, she finds her spark, not only liking jazz music but everything in life. Hopefully Joe will also discover what makes his life worth living and all that jazz. 

Intellectually, “Soul” matches “Inside Out” in its cerebral ambitions and thematic maturity, and emotionally, it surpasses. Joe and 22’s shared journey from The Great Before to Earth and back is ultimately poignant, but the film isn't self-serious. It can be very funny, from the verbal variety to the goofy body-swapping scenario with Joe as therapy cat Mr. Mittens. Like her best pal Amy Poehler as Joy, Tina Fey achieves a seamless balance of quick-witted humor and pathos as 22. The cutaways to 22 and her previous mentors are also perfectly timed, like 22 mispronouncing a “hero” sandwich in front of Archimedes. Distinct in both the look of the metaphysical world and a contemporary New York City, the animation is beautifully detailed as always but still recognizably striking. In a film that breathes music, the celestial, goosebump-inducing score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is truly transcendent, along with original jazz songs composed by Jon Batiste. Out of the gate, it is hard to know where to stack “Soul” within Pixar’s repertoire of films. Every new Pixar film gets branded as “their best,” and down the line that could happen with this one, but this much is for sure: “Soul” is special, meaningful, and sublimely human. One couldn’t be happier that it exists.

Grade: A -

Disney released “Soul” (107 min.) on Disney+ on December 25, 2020.