Soul

‘Soul’ isn’t the finest motion picture that Pixar has churned out, but by gosh, it has to be in the conversation for the most beautiful.  It’s also the latest example of the Disney studio’s brilliance at creating a story that kids can embrace for its funny, adorable nature, while, at the same time, adults can sit in awe at its almost effortless ability to strike emotional chords.

And, if anything, it’s tough to argue that a film this lush and generous in heart, deserves a better fate than direct streaming.  If ever a film should be experienced on the big screen, it’s ‘Soul’.

BUT, here are we, on the home stretch of 2020, and Disney + it is.  So be it.  I’m grateful that my family (well, those who were within health guidelines) were allowed to gather ’round the humble flat screen and take in this film….an intelligent, reflective masterpiece that, like ‘Inside Out’, will likely be a benchmark for personal insight.

In ‘Soul’, Jamie Foxx provides the voice for Joe, a middle school band teacher from the Big Apple who yearns to be a jazz musician, but begrudgingly settles for his daytime gig.  Lady luck comes in the form of an invite to sit in for a set with jazz legend Dorothea Williams (Angela Bassett) but, almost immediately after the audition, Joe falls into a manhole and tumbles into the afterlife.

Not taking death lying down…at least, not with his longtime dream within reach…Joe tricks an assortment of spirits into letting him mentor a restless soul named 22 (Tina Fey) who doesn’t want to be born.  Having already put the likes of Mother Theresa, Muhammad Ali, Abraham Lincoln and a host of other mentors who tried (and failed) to inspire 22 to want to live, she has no intention of allowing Joe to launch her into the hassle of human life.  But somehow, the duo makes it back to earth, only through a wacky switcheroo, 22 lands in his body, while he lands in a cat.

The following scenes are primarily slapstick, but quality stuff, as Pixar wouldn’t have it any other way.  It’s in the final act though, that ‘Soul’ really makes it mark, posing some weighty questions in regards to the meaning of life and our overall purpose and destiny.  What really hits a chord…at least, it did with me….was how ‘Soul’ manages to make us look at the difference between achieving big dreams and finding happiness.   It SHOULD be basic stuff – but when so beautifully illustrated and meticulously presented – it’s sobering.  (“You can’t crush a soul here,” observes 22 in the afterlife, or as they label it, ‘The Great Before’, “..that’s what life on earth is for.”)

It’s good to dream, but even better to appreciate life…and love.  Here’s a movie that understands that.  And I love it.