DVD Review: Soul

Soul

(DVD j Soul)

 

Soul is the latest Pixar animated film produced for the Walt Disney film studio. It was released in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic — to streaming platforms like Disney+ initially, and to DVD and BluRay in 2021.

 

Soul is a quirky little heartfelt film, that explores the worlds of live-performance music, and the goal of identifying what your life’s purpose is. Joe (voice of Jamie Foxx) is a middle-aged jazz musician, who’s never achieved his goal of performing jazz live, but instead is a teacher, looking for new talents in his endless stream of kids seeking personal music lessons. When Joe lucks into being hired for a temporary gig performing with a legendary jazz musician/singer, he’s on cloud nine. And then he accidentally steps in an open manhole and falls…seemingly to his death. He next finds himself in a mysterious, nebulous zone which is a crossover point, both for souls leaving the physical world and moving onto whatever comes next, and for new souls needing to be assigned new bodies to begin their journey on Earth.

 

Encouraged to “move on” to his next stage, Joe instead finds a loophole that might allow him to return to his body on Earth, and the life he desperately wishes to continue — he has to help a problematic new soul to discover their purpose and move into the physical realm. The only problem is #22 (voiced by Tina Fey), who has spent thousands of years avoiding finding their true purpose. Joe and #22 both end up on Earth, but not in ways that do either of them any good. What follows is a comical adventure, featuring mistaken identities, role reversals, humor and touching looks at life and relationships.

 

I can’t say Soul is one of my all-time favorite Pixar films, but it is certainly solid and well-made, with exception voice work from Foxx, Fey and the supporting cast. The story could have used some tightening, and for being the first Pixar film focused on a central Black character, too many opportunities seemed squandered. None-the-less, Soul is an entertaining film, with a spectacular soundtrack — it won for Best Picture and Best Original Soundtrack in this year’s Academy Awards ceremony just a few weeks ago.

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Soul web site ]

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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