Soul 2020
As the release date for Pixar’s Soul kept getting pushed back by Covid, reviews trickled in indicating this was going to be one of the good Pixar movies, sort of an adult version of Inside Out. I tried to stay as unspoiled as possible, which kind of worked, but meant I had to absorb a little more all in one sitting. It is one of those life in review movies like A Wonderful Life or A Christmas Carol, but revolves around an aspiring jazz pianist who has instead reached middle age as a high school music teacher. There are some neat concepts about souls and some interesting philosophical embellishments that I think allow the movie to be enjoyed on different levels. Adults will be drawn to some of the mid-life crisis elements and sweetness of life, while there is enough slapstick and action to hopefully keep kids entertained. I feel like it has some holes in it though and doesn’t resolve things quite as well as I would like. Maybe that will give some room for interpretation and discussion, but I don’t know if a movie for kids should be quite so existential (not sure if that is right). I can see where some people would really like it, but to me it didn’t do the job it seems like it set out to do. That said, the animation is good, the music is good (not all of it jazz), and a very critical relationship between the two primary characters is fun and rewarding, with lots of interesting side characters, all pretty well realized. They do a great job with the setting in New York City. I still enjoyed the movie and maybe I need to watch it again to fully appreciate some of what I thought were flaws, which I will save for a spoiler (please don’t read until after you see the movie). For now I am giving the movie a B+, which I think could go higher if rewatching makes things fit together better.
The intended animated short for Soul was Burrow about a rabbit wanting to build a perfect home in what turns out to be a crowded underground environment. It was kind of enjoyable, but a little overly abstract. I didn’t really understand what I had watched until I read the description afterwards.
Written: 26 Dec 2020
Owned on: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital