Movie Review - Soul

Happy New Year to you all. This year's first film review is another one affected by the pandemic, but one that is now easily accessible to those using Disney+. Now when it comes to Pixar films, most tend to be aimed at family audiences, but often trend lightly into mature themes. They are no stranger to the subject of afterlife having previously explored that in Coco and mentorship in Cars 3, but one thing that they are a stranger to is jazz music. There is also the whole Black Lives Matter movement that this film can also fit in to, but generally on the whole it's a film about finding your purpose in life and just roll with it. That does seem like a lot to unpack in a Pixar film, but then again they are that one animation studio that always strive to push the animation they can do to the limit and have a bit of fun while doing it. I mean this is the company behind some of the greatest films ever made and managed to change how Disney do things for the better after a certain former CEO was dismissed. So let's see what we get in this film:

The film is centred on a middle school music teacher in New York called Joe Gardner (voiced by Django and Electro himself, Jamie Foxx) who has dreams of a career in jazz music despite his mother's objections due to a fear of his financial security (his mother is voiced by Phylicia Rashad). He learns of a band opening and sets out to audition for it. He manages to impress jazz legend Dorothea Williams (voiced by Angela Bassett) who offers him a chance to perform in the band later on in the day. But Joe suddenly falls into a manhole and his soul winds up in a place called the "Great Beyond". There he desperately attempts to flee, before winding up to serve as a mentor to a cynical soul who hasn't found her place on Earth yet called 22 (voiced by Tina Fey). Its here when Joe begins a journey on rethinking his life and possibly do good for others before himself.

So interestingly, this film become the one reason people subscribed to Disney+ with it particularly being something of interest for mothers and I can see why. The film is about someone trying to achieve his dreams, but isn't aware of the consequences and that sometimes its better to put the needs of others first before your own. It's another win for Pixar. A great film with good vibes, emotional depth, some comedy here and there and a great deal of jazz. It would've been better being seen on the big screen, but on the whole, its a good film. Hopefully Disney will be able to do good films like this in the areas that are not flourishing such as the Star Wars films and their live action remakes. 9/10