Soul



This story of the value of life begins in an idealised New York City where Joe (Jamie Foxx) is tutoring music to school kids. Even the Disney “When you wish upon a star” theme is rendered on badly-played instruments. Joe is about to be made a permanent member of the school staff, much to the pleasure of his mother. Then the secret dream that he’s always harboured—to play with one of the greats—presents itself and whilst bursting with happiness and not looking where he’s going, Joe falls down an open manhole and dies.

The worlds beyond are visually weird, almost like experimental animation. And set against this are jokes about rebranding and training (including “You Seminars”)—as if the route to heaven or “h, e, double-hockey-sticks” is a modern business. Beforehand, the depiction of New York, the apartments, schools, jazz clubs (“Nice…”) and streets are all beautiful.


Finding himself in the Great Beyond and unwilling to accept it, Joe escapes and ends up in the Great Before, which is where unborn souls are prepared for life. He pretends to be a mentor and is assigned to 22 (Tina Fey), who is unbelievably cynical about the life that Joe has lost. She has fallen out with Mother Theresa, Abraham Lincoln and Mohammed Ali in the Great Beyond, so she is an ideal foil for the happy, optimistic Joe. They manage to make an arrangement with a mystical journeyman (voiced by Grahame Norton) and are transported back to Earth, although there is a body-swap which means Joe is in a cat and 22 is in Joe’s body.


What we have here is a quest for life: There’s no evidence that Joe was unhappy with his life as a part-time teacher, and music is his absolute passion. Soul takes a good look at what it means to be alive and to enjoy the good things in life. The visuals of the real world present a cartoon landscape of the recognisable world: the characters are cartoon people but the music of course is real and heartfelt. The Great Before and Beyond are necessarily weird: characters who’re just made of neon glow lines. What’s so good is the mix of this fantasy and the real lives of people which are referenced in tiny scenes—like the hedge fund guy whose return to the living encourages him to embrace life beyond finance.


The film is about the chances you take and those you don’t, and about how the dreams you have for yourself get changed by the circumstances of living in the world. And yes, the thoughts that may come to you when you analyse your own life are not going to be a hundred percent happy. Soul is a visually magnificent film with genuine satire as well as the expected Pixar wit.


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