‘Soul’ is Pixar’s biggest miscalculation, and they made three 'Cars' movies
Disney
This alone should be disqualifying for "Soul": The movie removes parenting and life experience from the concept of personality and offensively implies -- in this year of all years -- that those who don’t survive near-death experiences pass away because of a lack of inspiration or determination.
Then again, there's a lot that ruins the latest from "Inside Out" co-director Pete Docter, which is like a child’s version of “Whiplash" mixed with the most dubious psychology of "Inside Out" crossed with a mediocre body swap comedy, a watered-down version of the main characters’ dynamic from "Wreck-It Ralph," major ideas of "Coco," and set in the initial storyboards for "The Good Place." It's not new for a Pixar movie to try to appeal to all ages. But "Soul," which should have been right up my alley (I love jazz and messages about gratitude and think some of the studio's best moments occur when dealing with humans, aka the end of "Ratatouille" and the beginning of "Up"), is for no ages.
Unless it's a complex examination of life and death for adults where the only coherent message is the insultingly basic "Live in the moment," or a movie for kids as long as they love Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” and references to Tony! Toni! Tone!
(SPOILER ALERT: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SOME DETAILS YOU MAY NOT WANT TO KNOW IF YOU’RE STILL PLANNING TO SEE “SOUL.”)
The plot: Just when part-time high school music teacher Joe (voiced by Jamie Foxx) lands the biggest gig of his life as an aspiring jazz pianist, he falls into an open New York City manhole. Refusing to accept death, his soul escapes to a bizarre version of purgatory where he’s supposed to teach passion and purpose to a fast-talking, annoying form named 22 (voiced by Tina Fey), who for no reason sees no value in life on Earth and has already irritated a variety of dead legends like Mother Teresa and Muhammad Ali. What results delivers a muddled message about following your dreams (Julia Child didn’t succeed until she was 49 but also you can’t always get what you want so [insert shrug emoji]) and a painfully simplistic suggestion that low self-esteem and depression can be cured by engaging with nature for three seconds. And that delighting in basic pleasures will solve much larger problems and decisions, which isn’t true for adults and a weird lesson for young viewers.
There's also unexamined judgment, suggesting that only some dreams are OK (the film directly claims that hedge fund managers are wasting their lives and have no purpose; I don’t want to be a hedge fund manager, but surely there are some people who do get joy from it) and a discussion of “lost souls” who are “obsessed with something that disconnects them from life.”
Seriously, it’s astonishing how many mixed/terrible messages occur in this underwritten, manipulative story of an unappreciated musical genius who also needs to focus less on his art:
People need to live fully but only in a particular way, finding their creative motivation but not letting it dominate your life
People who give everything to their craft are limiting themselves but are also top choices to be mentors to others
Learn from that genius mentor but don’t try too hard to follow in their footsteps
Joe is selfish and one-dimensional but worthy of afterlife validation yet also living incorrectly but also just needs to have more childlike wonder
Souls need bodies to appreciate tastes and smells but not sounds
No other souls feel it’s not their time to go, as if Joe’s the only one feeling like he wants more before he dies
People receive “complete personalities” before birth that are a result of randomly assigned characteristics having nothing to do with DNA but also Joe thought he hated jazz until his dad brought him to a particular show
Being “in the zone” is beautiful and ideal but also don’t try to do that too much or care too much because that’s an “obsession” that takes you away from life, as if that passion isn’t part of your life
Joe’s determination to live inspires 22 to see the value in life even though Joe’s priorities are deemed inappropriate and foolish
Joe is likable and kind but is also a total loner in his 40s who is dangerously fixated on his career and can’t believe someone is happy without having their dream job
Be inspired and live every minute, but not too much, and not like that
“Soul” pretends to be deep and tolerant while operating like an idealistic, condescending, first-time Medium article about appreciating the little things ... mixed with Joe, who is too old to be so naive and is finally finally a Black lead character in a Pixar movie, spending time in a cat’s body for a while!
Plus: There’s the implication that everyone has heard of a jazz musician who is supposedly super-famous but is playing at a modestly sized basement club, and a painful predictability to the messaging about caring about more than one thing and the benefits of teaching that’s obvious after about 12 minutes. (Duplicating a big hole in “Inside Out,” Docter again doesn’t realize that a person can have multiple feelings in flux. Why can’t Joe feel proud of his teaching while also striving for success as a professional musician?) No one is saying kid-friendly movies should be stunningly unpredictable. But the musically delicious, visually pleasing, otherwise appalling “Soul” wants to say that souls start to leave the body even when the person is still alive and also try to get a laugh from a guy splitting his pants and desperately trying to cover up his butt.
Clearly there's a lot going on in "Soul," which I watched twice to make sure I wasn’t missing anything. But most of the narrative and thematic decisions haven't been fully considered. What else does Joe actually want? What does it take to make it in a creative field? Is that dedication not worth it? Who decides when joy becomes obsession, and on what terms? Is it therefore bad if 22’s love of pizza drives her to want to be a chef and then she has to make sacrifices to succeed? Why isn’t Joe allowed to enjoy his success at all, as if the maxim that true happiness comes from within means that achieving something results in no satisfaction whatsoever? And if souls can have any characteristics, why is anyone being given “insecure” or “self-absorbed,” and how can those traits exist outside the context of a person’s body and what they look like?
Docter and co-director/co-writer Kemp Powers just hope vague inspiration will block out critical thinking or a recognition that worshiping creative transcendence isn't the same as achieving it. Especially with generic situations (Joe's mom [Phylicia Rashad] doesn't believe in his dream) and contrived developments (very little about Joe's career opportunity holds up to scrutiny; why does he need a haircut so desperately when he’s already wearing a hat?!) and a refusal to thoroughly pay off its own threads about fulfillment, choices and consequences.
Instead, it tries to come up with a big question, spins around in circles and plays great music (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ score is, of course, excellent) in hopes that you’ll forgive the mess and that the movie forgot what it was trying to say. It then closes with the clink of the highest note on the piano as a means to resolve a heavy storm.
Or to put it another way: Attempting to invest in the power of life as a beautiful solo, it merely pretends to have invented YOLO.
D
NEW: WANT TO SETTLE A MOVIE DEBATE, TALK ABOUT '90S FAVORITES, OR EVEN HAVE YOUR SHORT HOME MOVIE REVIEWED? BOOK A VIDEO FROM MATT VIA CAMEO
ORDER “TALK ‘90S WITH ME: 23 UNPREDICTABLE CONVERSATIONS WITH STARS OF AN UNFORGETTABLE DECADE”
Matt’s new book arrived Sept. 27, 2022, and Richard Roeper raves: “Matt Pais deserves four stars for reintroducing us to many of the greatly talented but often unsung heroes of 1990s film. This is a terrific read.”
ARE YOU A “SAVED BY THE BELL” FAN?
Order “Zack Morris Lied 329 Times! Reassessing every ridiculous episode of ‘Saved by the Bell’ … with stats” (featuring interviews with 22 cast members, plus the co-founder of Saved by the Max and the creator of “Zack Morris is Trash”)
GET 100 STORIES FOR JUST $4.99