You ever wonder what your purpose is in life? Do you ever feel like you’re always working towards your destiny, but it’s always just out of reach? I can understand the mindset of Joe Gardner, the main character of Soul, as I too have been in that place before. You get so focused on working towards one thing for your entire life and then it just never seems to come. You begin to fear that if you were to die tomorrow, your life would be meaningless because you never achieved your goal. God damn it Pixar, what’s with all the existentialism recently?
Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) is a high school music teacher who dreams of being a jazz musician in a band. The only problem is that he’s never landed a gig and he’s in his mid-thirties. That all changes though when he auditions for Dorothea Williams (Angela Bassett), one of his idols, and gets the job. High on the adrenaline and joy of finally having his goal in sight, Joe, falls down an open manhole and dies. When he awakes as a soul on his way to ‘the great beyond’ he panic’s and escapes into ‘the great before’, where new souls develop their personalities before being sent to Earth to be born. There he meets Twenty-Two (Tina Fey), a soul who after thousands of years and countless mentors has decided she doesn’t like the idea of living and so has never left the great before.
Together Joe and Twenty-Two work to complete Twenty-Two’s personality so that she can be given a ticket to Earth, which Joe will use to re-enter his body, and will allow Twenty-Two to remain in the great before permanently. But together the two will teach each other what the meaning of life really is.
Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) is a high school music teacher who dreams of being a jazz musician in a band. The only problem is that he’s never landed a gig and he’s in his mid-thirties. That all changes though when he auditions for Dorothea Williams (Angela Bassett), one of his idols, and gets the job. High on the adrenaline and joy of finally having his goal in sight, Joe, falls down an open manhole and dies. When he awakes as a soul on his way to ‘the great beyond’ he panic’s and escapes into ‘the great before’, where new souls develop their personalities before being sent to Earth to be born. There he meets Twenty-Two (Tina Fey), a soul who after thousands of years and countless mentors has decided she doesn’t like the idea of living and so has never left the great before.
Together Joe and Twenty-Two work to complete Twenty-Two’s personality so that she can be given a ticket to Earth, which Joe will use to re-enter his body, and will allow Twenty-Two to remain in the great before permanently. But together the two will teach each other what the meaning of life really is.
Soul’s story is one of both good and bad. The message and overarching theme of the film is very good. But the actual moment to moment plot and its developments are not all that interesting. The characters are well written and have some excellent voice talent behind them, but what they are given to do in the story is not all that exciting. So, whilst you will most likely walk away from Soul having enjoyed the film, you probably won’t be able to pinpoint any particular moment’s you liked.
It’s kind of hard not to go into spoilers when talking about the story for this film so if you don’t want anything spoiled skip to the next paragraph.
The majority of the film is spent with Joe stuck in the body of a cat whilst Twenty-Two is stuck in Joe’s body. The two end up getting themselves into various hijinks as they try to get Joe back into his body in time for the performance with Dorothea later that evening. This in turn teaches Twenty-Two about all the awesome things about being alive that she simply cannot experience in the great before like food, nature, and just the feeling of actually being alive. For Twenty-Two to get her Earth ticket she needs to find her ‘spark’ which for the entire film we are led to believe is someone’s purpose. We see people with sparks related to sports and food, and Joe believes his spark is piano, but we never find out what Twenty-Two’s is because in a late film reveal it’s explained that the spark isn’t a person’s purpose but instead is developed when they appreciate life itself. Joe makes this realisation the hard way by performing with Dorothea and then realising that now he’s achieved his goal he doesn’t know what to live for anymore. Because he convinced himself that his destiny was to perform as a jazz musician, now that he’s done that he doesn’t know how to go from there. We don’t really get a clear ending for either character. Twenty-Two goes off to be born and we never find out what kind of person she became. Joe is given the opportunity to return to his body and live life with the knowledge that he doesn’t have a destiny as such, but we don’t know what he does next. A lot of the start of the film and even Joe’s character arc seems to suggest he is best suited to being a teacher and that he enjoys doing it, but we never find out if he returns to teaching or if he does stick with Dorothea and her band…or even if he does something else entirely. This does make the ending feel a little underwhelming because you’re left with so many questions, and I understand that it is meant to imply that Joe’s future is simply what he makes of it, but the lack of clarity as to what he intends to do with the rest of his life is irritating.
It’s kind of hard not to go into spoilers when talking about the story for this film so if you don’t want anything spoiled skip to the next paragraph.
The majority of the film is spent with Joe stuck in the body of a cat whilst Twenty-Two is stuck in Joe’s body. The two end up getting themselves into various hijinks as they try to get Joe back into his body in time for the performance with Dorothea later that evening. This in turn teaches Twenty-Two about all the awesome things about being alive that she simply cannot experience in the great before like food, nature, and just the feeling of actually being alive. For Twenty-Two to get her Earth ticket she needs to find her ‘spark’ which for the entire film we are led to believe is someone’s purpose. We see people with sparks related to sports and food, and Joe believes his spark is piano, but we never find out what Twenty-Two’s is because in a late film reveal it’s explained that the spark isn’t a person’s purpose but instead is developed when they appreciate life itself. Joe makes this realisation the hard way by performing with Dorothea and then realising that now he’s achieved his goal he doesn’t know what to live for anymore. Because he convinced himself that his destiny was to perform as a jazz musician, now that he’s done that he doesn’t know how to go from there. We don’t really get a clear ending for either character. Twenty-Two goes off to be born and we never find out what kind of person she became. Joe is given the opportunity to return to his body and live life with the knowledge that he doesn’t have a destiny as such, but we don’t know what he does next. A lot of the start of the film and even Joe’s character arc seems to suggest he is best suited to being a teacher and that he enjoys doing it, but we never find out if he returns to teaching or if he does stick with Dorothea and her band…or even if he does something else entirely. This does make the ending feel a little underwhelming because you’re left with so many questions, and I understand that it is meant to imply that Joe’s future is simply what he makes of it, but the lack of clarity as to what he intends to do with the rest of his life is irritating.
The film looks absolutely gorgeous. Whilst I still fell Toy Story 4 is more detailed in terms of things like being able to see the stitching and fabric texture on the toys, and the fur on the antique store cat; Soul improves on the lighting techniques used in Toy Story 4 and it really goes give the film this mesmerising glow. One standout moment was when Joe performs in the jazz club with Dorothea and her band. The room itself is quite dark, but the way the stage lighting bounces off skin, the instruments, and clothing makes the place feel vividly real.
The more fantastical appearance of the great beyond and the great before are also very visually interesting. Joe’s entrance into the great before is complimented with rapidly changing animation styles and I do wish this had been implemented more frequently throughout, but then again Pixar is a 3D CG animation house and having the film regularly cut between various types of 2D and 3D animation probably wouldn’t play to their strengths. The various blues and purples of the great before are gorgeous to behold and I really wish I could have witnessed them on a big screen.
Speaking of wanting to have seen it at the cinema, the score for this film is incredible. The ‘normal’ score is composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who if anybody has read my reviews of various David Fincher films knows I adore the duo’s film scores. Meanwhile the film also has a lot of jazz music which was composed by Jon Batiste. These numbers are fantastic treats for the ears that punctuate the story with frantic jazzy moments.
Where Inside Out dealt with teenagers, emotions, and how to communicate them; Soul is absolutely a film for adults as it is focused directly on how we often put too much focus on our careers or ambitions to really enjoy life in the moment. Whilst children will certainly enjoy the many funny moments in Soul, it’s adults that will absolutely get the most out of it. With its fantastic score, beautiful animation, and a great message Soul is overall a great film, but it’s somewhat underwhelming plot developments hold it back from being incredible like the aforementioned Inside Out. But it’s good to see Pixar back on form following the underwhelming Onward.
The more fantastical appearance of the great beyond and the great before are also very visually interesting. Joe’s entrance into the great before is complimented with rapidly changing animation styles and I do wish this had been implemented more frequently throughout, but then again Pixar is a 3D CG animation house and having the film regularly cut between various types of 2D and 3D animation probably wouldn’t play to their strengths. The various blues and purples of the great before are gorgeous to behold and I really wish I could have witnessed them on a big screen.
Speaking of wanting to have seen it at the cinema, the score for this film is incredible. The ‘normal’ score is composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who if anybody has read my reviews of various David Fincher films knows I adore the duo’s film scores. Meanwhile the film also has a lot of jazz music which was composed by Jon Batiste. These numbers are fantastic treats for the ears that punctuate the story with frantic jazzy moments.
Where Inside Out dealt with teenagers, emotions, and how to communicate them; Soul is absolutely a film for adults as it is focused directly on how we often put too much focus on our careers or ambitions to really enjoy life in the moment. Whilst children will certainly enjoy the many funny moments in Soul, it’s adults that will absolutely get the most out of it. With its fantastic score, beautiful animation, and a great message Soul is overall a great film, but it’s somewhat underwhelming plot developments hold it back from being incredible like the aforementioned Inside Out. But it’s good to see Pixar back on form following the underwhelming Onward.