Soul (2020)

Soul (2020)

7/10

Starring the voices of

Jamie Foxx

Tina Fey

Questlove

Phylicia Rashad

Daveed Diggs

Angela Bassett

Directed by Pete Docter and Kemp Powers

Disney/Pixar have done magnificent work when it comes to emotional rides in movies like Inside Out and Up, even though Soul plays to the same emotional ride it just doesn’t beat those. Yet still, I find my emotional strings pulled and there was true joy watching this movie and seeing the characters Joe and 22 come to realization of what living truly is. “The whole take a mile in my shoes...” depicted in this movie was the height of it all. Soul may not be as emotional or as funny (this is a true fact) as Inside Out or Up, but it has its moments. The crafting of the story is so that not just children, but adults will find meaning in watching this movie and take a nice view deep inside to see what really makes them tick.

As you will expect from Disney/Pixar the animation was top class and you will appreciate it more when Joe and 22 got back into Joe’s body. The movie shows 22 getting to see what true living is and the animation (along with the story) did the most of the heavy lifting there.

With amazing voice casting waiting to take you on this ride to the world beyond or maybe the world before, who knows… but Soul starts with the introduction of Joe.

Joe is a music teacher in a school part-time and dreams of being a Jazz musician full-time. Well, Joe got an upgrade to full-time job, but not where he desired. The school offered him full-time employment and Joe is thinking of turning it down to chase his Jazz dream. His mother not wanting Joe to suffer, wanted Joe to give up on being a musician and take on the job, but Joe wanted much to chase his dream. One day his desire came knocking and he got a gig to play in a Jazz band. Well, if you have seen the trailer you will know that Joe’s excitement led to him having an accident which takes us to the point where his soul was about to ascend.

Joe not wanting to die when he was just a day away from his dream coming true tried to escape and did all cunning ways he could to avoid ascending. That led him to meet 22, a soul who is finding it hard to find her zing that will make her ready for earth. She has gone through all the great teachers as mentors from the ancient Greek great thinkers to modern heroes. When she and Joe were paired up, and she found out Joe was faking being a mentor to find a way to get back to earth she decided to help him. Soon that help turned into some calamity as 22 who never wanted to go to earth found herself on earth with Joe, but not in the way both of them wanted.

The thing about Soul is the journey to the great beyond and back. When Joe got back that is when the animation really takes flight everything before that, was not as good as I expected and were at times dull. But when there were back on earth made up for the dull moments before. You can catch Soul on Disney+.