I have to tell you an honest truth before this review. My Disney magic seemed to really die this year. A mix of the soulless Disney+ taking away cinema releases, the many many controversies of Mulan and the absolute mundanity of Onward all dimmed the flame that was there. A chance encounter with Finding Dory on the TV didn’t help either, neither has their recent attempts at films made to primarily sell merch. Once that illusion started to crack, sadly a few other things started to tumble. Each Pixar film suddenly feels like a template. Its CGI and colour pallette makes each film look the same. One character is a peppy optimist who learns that they need to keep loving their life if they come up against a stumbling block and being the same and one is a pessimist who needs to learn to embrace life and conquer their fear/weakness. They go on an adventure see some things, sometimes come up against a half baked villain and then develop. That’s it, the same thing each time. Inside Out, Up, Onward, Monsters Inc, Cars, Toy Story, Wall-e. These films are all pretty much the same things with a slightly different skin. So, has disney rediscovered its Soul? Well, it puts in a solid effort.

Joe Gardener (Jamie Foxx) loves his jazz. A pianist who teaches middle school, he is still waiting for his big break as a player as he can’t seem to inspire the children in the band which plays about as well as Wetsoc. One day he lands his dream gig, but dies in the afternoon. He decides he’s not ready to go to the “Great Beyond”, so ends up running and falling into the “Great Beginning” where he tries to get back to Earth. However, to do this he needs to give unborn soul “22” (Tina Fey) their spark in order for them to get an Earth Badge and to be born. This is some form of passion or destiny. In a Pixar template it obviously leads to Joe re-evaluating his life as well.

Does this film stick to the Pixar template? Well, yes it does. It’s your predictable writing with some fairly shallow characters who take the same arcs that Joy & Sadness/ Marlon & Dory/ Woody & Buzz/ Wall-e & Eve/ Carl & Russel all take. However, what makes this film stand out is its look at deeper issues. It talks about ideas such as depression and purpose in a frank way which is deep for adults and approachable for children. Soul is probably Pixar’s most grown up and mature film to date. I didn’t end up contemplating my life in some form of transcendence, but I appreciated the story.

It really was a shame I couldn’t see this film at the cinema. I especially imagine the great beyond would’ve been a fantastic to see on a big screen. I know I shouldn’t penalise Pixar for it being on a smaller screen, but it just isn’t the same. The film looked beautiful once we were in the real world, showing off much more detailed atmospheres, similarly to Toy Story 4.

The highlight of the film was the soundtrack. The jazzy Whiplash-esque score certainly was a joy to listen to. It made you appreciate Joe’s passion and could add tension in faster moving moments or a light comedic touch. Either way, it’s the best score Pixar have had in a while.

Jamie Foxx was great at voice acting, as was Tina Fey. I worried she would be annoying based on the limited parts of the advert. However, her comedic moments were good with a fun mix of energetic and deadpan scenes. The humour was fine. I did have issues about random cuts to 2 second scenes for some forced jokes. They felt wedged in and took away from the moment of the scene. However they were few and far between enough that it wasn’t jarring. One problem I regularly have with Pixar is that they show us interesting landscapes, but quickly move on. To their credit, most of the human world landscapes and dreamworld moments all returned. An improvement on Inside Out which felt like an eclectic compilation of abstract ideas.

Summary

While it’s easy to compare Soul to Inside Out, it’s more interesting characters and much better existensial questions and topics make it a much better film. Sure it’s a fairly formulaic Pixar film, but it’s well made enough that it’s worth a watch. [Grade: B+]