Psycho's Movie Reviews #249: SOUL (2020)

Soul is a 2020 American computer-animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It was written and directed by Pete Docter. It stars the voices of Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton, Rachel House, Alice Braga, Richard Ayoade, Phylicia Rashad, Donnell Rawlings, Questlove, and Angela Bassett. The film centers on a music teacher Joe Gardner (Foxx) seeking to reunite his soul and his body after they are accidentally separated, just before his big break as a jazz musician.

Docter conceived Soul in January 2016, working from his contemplations on the origins of human personalities and the concept of determinism. He co-wrote the screenplay with Mike Jones and Powers. The film's producers consulted various jazz musicians including Herbie Hancock and Terri Lyne Carrington, and animated its musical sequences using the sessions of musician Jon Batiste as reference. Apart from Batiste's original jazz compositions, musicians Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross also composed the film's score.

Soul premiered at the London Film Festival on October 11, 2020, and was scheduled to be theatrically released on November 20. However, the feature was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Soul being released direct-to-streaming on Disney+ on December 25, 2020, becoming Pixar's first film to not be given a wide theatrical release, and the first to be released exclusively on Disney+ in the United States and Canada, and in theatres in countries without the streaming service. Soul was well-received by the media for its craftsmanship, story, characters, and musical score. Organizations like the National Board of Review and American Film Institute named the film as one of the top 10 films of 2020. Soul led the 93rd Academy Awards season with three nominations (winning two for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score), and received numerous accolades.

Plot

In New York City, pianist and music teacher Joe Gardner dreams of playing jazz professionally. When he receives an offer for a full-time teaching position, his mother Libba urges him to accept it. Then Joe learns jazz legend Dorothea Williams has an opening in her quartet and auditions at a music club. Impressed with Joe's piano playing, Dorothea hires him for that night's show. As Joe heads off, his excitement distracts him, and he falls down a manhole.

Joe finds himself as a soul heading into the "Great Beyond". Unwilling to die, he tries to escape but ends up in the "Great Before", where counsellors—all named Jerry—prepare unborn souls for life with the help of mentor souls. Each soul has a badge which grants passage to Earth once it is completely filled out with personality traits. Mistaken for a mentor, Joe is assigned to train 22, a cynical soul who has always lived in the Great Before and desires avoiding Earth. Discovering that Joe is in a coma at a hospital, 22 agrees to let him help find her "spark" to complete her badge and then give it to him so that he can return home. After Joe fails to find 22 a passion, they visit "the zone", a place that souls can enter when their passions create a euphoric trance, but which can also become a trap for obsessed lost souls. They meet the galleon captain Moonwind to locate Joe's body on Earth.

Joe returns to Earth but accidentally carries 22, entering their respective bodies of a therapy cat and Joe himself. They find Moonwind (at his day-job as a sign twirler), who agrees to meet them later at the jazz club to restore Joe to his body. In the meantime, 22 settles into Joe's body and enjoys small moments while interacting with Joe's peers. She holds poignant conversations with student Connie, his barber Dez, and Libba. Meanwhile, Terry, an obsessive accountant who tallies souls headed to the Great Beyond, sends him to it by arriving on Earth after he was lost, restoring the count.

As the day ends, Joe and 22 rendezvous with Moonwind to return Joe to his body. However, after Joe tells 22 that her experiences were not purposes, 22 refuses and flees to find her spark, with Joe tailing behind. As they run through a subway station, Terry traps them both and brings them back to the Great Before. 22 realizes her badge is filled out, yet Joe insists it was because of his traits, and that she has not truly found her spark. Angry, 22 throws the badge at him and disappears into the zone. A Jerry informs Joe that a spark is not a soul's purpose in life, but Joe refuses to believe this and uses 22's badge to return to Earth.

The night's show becomes successful, but Joe is upset at his unchanged life even after fulfilling his dream. Looking at objects that 22 collected while in his body, and recalling the moments they had enjoyed together, he sees that these experiences have given 22 her spark. By playing piano, he enters the zone with the intent to return her badge but discovers that she has become a lost soul. He chases her down, showing her a maple seed she had collected to remind her time spending on Earth. They realize that a spark is not a soul's purpose, but indicates an intention to live. Joe's actions restore 22 to normal, returning her badge and escorting her out of the Great Before for her journey to Earth.

As Joe prepares to enter the Great Beyond, a Jerry stops him and offers another chance at life in gratitude for finally inspiring 22 to live. Joe returns to his body on Earth and starts the next day committed to enjoying his entire life.

Production

Development and Writing

The development of Soul began in January 2016, when director Pete Docter sought new creative directions during the announcement of the 88th Academy Awards, before eventually pondering the origins of human personalities with the concept of determinism. In his first meeting with co-writer Mike Jones, Docter pitched an idea "set in a place beyond space and time, where souls are given their personalities". Overall, the budget was more than $150 million.

Pixar chose to portray the film's main character as a musician because they wanted an appealing profession for the audience, and settled that after trying for a scientist, which did not feel "so naturally pure". Docter described Soul as "an exploration of" things which focused on it.

Docter and Jones worked on the development of the main character for about two years. According to Docter, once they settled on the main character being a jazz musician, the filmmakers chose to make it African-American one due to the race tied to jazz history. With co-writer Kemp Powers's help, he wrote Joe during the film's early development; his 12-week contract was first given and was later extended. He eventually became the film's co-director after his extensive contributions to it, making him Pixar's first African-American co-director. Powers based several elements of Joe on his personal life, as the character's story shared several elements with Powers' own, but also wanted him to "transcend his own experience" in order to make the character more accessible. Powers also placed additional emphasis on authentically depicting the black community as well as Joe's relationships with them. In order to portray accurately African-American culture within the film, Pixar created an internal culture trust composed of black Pixar employees, and hired several consultants, among whom were musicians Herbie Hancock, Terri Lyne Carrington, Quincy Jones, and Jon Batiste; educator Johnnetta Cole; and stars Questlove and Diggs. The filmmakers worked closely with them through the film's development.

The idea for the therapy cat and Joe landing inside its body came from Jones. Docter and Powers appreciated the idea, as it offered the filmmakers a much needed way for Joe to "be able to look at his own life from a different perspective" and appreciate it.

According to Murray, the filmmakers were undecided on the ending of the film before the last screening. Some versions of the ending had Joe actually passing on to the Great Beyond, while other ones had him returning to Earth a year later, or staying in the Great Before as a mentor. Several brief scenes showing 22's life on Earth after her new birth, including one of her reuniting with Joe in New York, were storyboarded. Docter considered it very strong for the audiences' decision and ultimately discarded these scenes.

Casting

Docter said Jamie Foxx was perfect for Joe, citing his comedy skills and musician background. He emphasized the role's passion for music relatable, stating that early in his career drew inspiration from Lionel Richie; nonetheless, comedy was preferred at first. Foxx related the film's "bittersweet feeling of losing someone but gaining a vision of joy", following the death of his sister in October 2020 at the age of 36. Tina Fey, in addition to voicing 22, also contributed to the screenplay, having helped to write her character's lines. She considered the film, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, a "helpful reminder that life isn't defined by achievement or attainment".

Pixar mainstay John Ratzenberger was also reported by some media to be a part of the cast. However, one reviewer who screened the film later stated that Ratzenberger's name is absent from the film's credits and all official cast listings, and the reviewer did not recognize his voice at any point during the film. Docter had reportedly said that Ratzenberger makes a "cameo" in the film, despite not being credited in the main cast or additional voices. Co-director Kemp Powers later confirmed that Ratzenberger's appearance was not a voice role as per usual, but instead a tribute as a non-speaking background character in the film that was animated in his likeness, making Soul the first Pixar film not to feature his credit, and the first to have him make an appearance outside of voice roles.

Animation

Soul is Pixar's first film to feature an African-American protagonist. Pixar was mindful of the history of racist imagery in animation, and set out to create characters who were recognizably black while avoiding the stereotypes in old cartoons. Acknowledging this effort, Docter stated the film's animation had a "long and painful history of caricatured racist design tropes" that mocked African-Americans. According to Powers, the animators used lighting as a way to highlight the ethnic diversity in the living world. Pixar sought to capture the fine details of these black characters, including the textures of black hair and the way light plays on various tones of black skin. Cinematographer Bradford Young worked as a lighting consultant on the film.

Animators used footage of several music performers, including Batiste, performing as reference for the film's musical sequences. By capturing MIDI data from the sessions, animators were able to retrace the exact key being played on the piano with each note and create the performances authentically. According to Docter, the animators assigned to specific musical instruments often either had experience playing them or a great appreciation for them.

The souls were animated by the filmmakers in a "vaporous", "ethereal", and "non-physical" way, based on their designs in definitions about those for various religious and cultural representatives. They differentiated souls from ghosts by adjusting their color palette accordingly. Animating the souls' designs were a challenge by Docter, since the animators had their most substantial work. According to Murray, several artists helped create the souls' designs by giving their suggestions and opinions on how they should look. The designs were also inspired by early drawings made by Docter. Animators created two designs for the souls in the film: one for the new souls in "The Great Before" (described as "very cute, very appealing, with simple, rounded shapes" by supervising animator Jude Brownbill) and one for mentor souls (feature distinctive characteristics since they have been on Earth).

The design of soul counsellors ("Jerrys") originated from line drawings made by story artist Aphton Corbin; another artist then created wire sculptures of them, upon which the final design was based. Together with the design of "Terry", they were seen by critics as a reference to Osvaldo Cavandoli's 1971 Italian animated series La Linea.

For the Great Before, the filmmakers did not want it to be based in any specific culture given its nature of universality. They sought inspiration from the architecture of 1930s–1960s world's fairs, making a "sense of awe and importance". According to Docter, the aim of the design was to "make a grand statement about learning and knowledge." The personality pavilions were designed to be "abstract-looking shapes" as a literal interpretation of the abstract ideas they represent. For the Great Beyond, the filmmakers went a direct take on the concept of "going toward the light", which they believed that the audience understood it. The Astral Plane sequence took months to create, despite having its short duration.

Music

American musicians Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails composed an ambient score for the metaphysical segments of the film, while Batiste composed a number of original jazz songs for the New York City-based segments of the film. Batiste sought to create what he referred to as "user-friendly jazz", which felt "authentic" but could still be appreciated by a general audience. Reznor and Ross were brought in on the recommendation of sound designer Ren Klyce, who had worked extensively with the duo in David Fincher films.

The score and the original songs from Soul were released in two separate vinyl-exclusive albums, while also both being compiled onto a digital album. "It's All Right", the end credits song performed by Batiste, was originally recorded by The Impressions. A second cover of the song, a duet between Batiste and British soul singer Celeste, is not included in the film's soundtrack, but was released as a non-album single alongside the three albums.

Release/Reception/Box Office

The 100-minute Soul premiered on October 11, 2020, at the BFI London Film Festival. It was originally scheduled for theatrical release in the United States on June 19, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Soul was pushed back to November 20. Variety reported that Disney considered cancelling the film's theatrical release and replacing with its release on Disney+ following the box-office failure of Onward, though a Disney insider disputed the claim. Soul's theatrical release was later cancelled in favour of a release on Disney+ on December 25.

Soul had a traditional theatrical release in countries without Disney+ where theatres have re-opened. This included China, the Philippines (in areas under MGCQ), Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, among others. Unlike Mulan, Soul was not released as a Disney+ Premier Access release, and was free to all subscribers. The film was included in their line-ups of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival and the Rome Film Festival; it opened on October 15. In theatres, Soul was intended to be accompanied by SparkShorts short film Burrow, but it premiered on Disney+ instead. A prequel short to Soul was released in 2021, titled 22 vs. Earth. It focuses on 22 leading a rebellion against her superiors.

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released Soul on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download on March 23, 2021. Physical copies contain behind-the-scenes featurettes, audio commentary, and deleted scenes.

Soul has an approval rating of 95% based on 342 professional reviews on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 8.3/10. Its critical consensus reads, "A film as beautiful to contemplate as it is to behold, Soul proves Pixar's power to deliver outstanding all-ages entertainment remains undimmed." Metacritic (which uses a weighted average) assigned Soul a score of 83 out of 100 based on 55 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Several journalists praised Soul for its craftsmanship, which they saw as an exercise of Docter's expertise, as the film was considered a return of Pixar's form by some critics. Leslie Felperin (The Hollywood Reporter) and Jason Solomons (TheWrap) described the film as its peak, with Solomons characterized its "colourful visuals and gentle wisdom". A. O. Scott of The New York Times expressed its "combination of skill, feeling and inspiration".

The story, characters, and music were sources of praise. Kaleem Aftab of IndieWire felt the narrative "veered off in many unexpected directions, so that even the inevitable end point feels just right." USA Today's Brian Truitt commended the performances of Foxx and Fey since they had their humour. For Time Out Dubai, Whelan Barzey emphasized Joe's generations as more linked in the film. Felperin and Peter Travers (ABC News) praised the musical score, calling it as "sublime". Truitt and Travers credited Batiste, Reznor, and Ross for their music merits.

Reviews were not uniformly positive. Adonis Fryer of the Ohio student newspaper The Post concluded that "beautiful animation, strong voice acting, charming writing and easy-to-digest existential philosophy make Soul a compelling watch but does not make up for Disney's inability to truly centre a black hero with agency." The same sentiment was shared by Kirsten Acuna from the Insider. She felt that "the studio had taken a few steps backward" in their racial sensitivity as Soul used the same trope of "turning Black characters into creatures". Molly Freeman of Screen Rant acknowledged the film's "message about the meaning of life and finding purpose, but it's messy and only made muddier by the questions the movie sets up then fails to answer. The result is Soul loses much of its emotional impact, with the third act playing out more like a rush to the finish line of the story without giving as much weight to the themes and emotional through line of the film." Charles Pulliam-Moore of Gizmodo wrote that "Soul comes across less like an earnest and casual celebration of everyday Blackness, and more like a twee depiction of it that’s meant for white audiences’ consumption."

Soul was included in multiple best-of lists. It was listed on many critics' top ten lists in 2020, ranking sixteenth. Several publications have listed it as one of the best animated films, including: Parade and Complex (all 2021).

Soul earned $121million in other territories. The film grossed $7.6 million in its opening weekend in 10 markets, including $5.5 million from China. By February 2021, Soul had become the highest-grossing Pixar release ever in Russia ($18.3 million), Ukraine ($1.9 million), and Saudi Arabia ($5.9 million). Its top international markets at that point were China ($57.9 million), Russia, South Korea ($14.8 million), Taiwan ($6.4 million), and Saudi Arabia.

Budget $150 million+

Box office $121 million

My Review

Pixar is one of the finest animation studios to exist and one of the few studios today for anything to continually deliver. Sure they did become less consistent post-'Toy Story 3', but in the 90s and 2000s their work was of higher quality than Disney's generally and hit more than it missed. Pre-'Toy Story 3', the one slight disappointment was 'Cars', the others are very good to brilliant and even their lesser work is still watchable.

'Soul' is nothing short of amazing and proved to be one of the few highlights this year. Not just as an overall film, but everything about it is fantastically executed. It has a huge amount of soul and heart, true of Pixar at its very best, and also filled me with joy and hope (and goodness don't we all need it right now). In my view, 'Soul' is one of Pixar's best post-'Toy Story 3' films alongside 'Inside Out' and 'Coco'. And as far as the studio's overall filmography goes it's definitely in the top 10.

As cliched as this sounds, everything in 'Soul' works. The animation, as usual for Pixar, is stunning. Consisting of some of the most gorgeously vibrant colours for any animated film in recent memory and some very imaginative backgrounds. A major star is the music, one of the studio's finest scores, one that really celebrates the style and does so so affectionately, and this is coming from a studio that always delivered in this aspect. The music here is so catchy, full of heart-pumping energy and poignant emotion.

The voice acting is dynamite, meant in a good way. Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey are at the top of their game, voicing their characters with deep feeling and infectious enthusiasm. The characters are ones worth rooting for, feeling like real people and not stock caricatures. The script is playfully witty, beautifully affecting and also honest, there is nothing childish here and to me coherence actually wasn't an issue. Really admired the message of you can change and that it is never too late to do so, such a good message honestly delivered and it resonated with me.

When it comes to talking about the story, the one in 'Soul' is more thematically ambitious than most Pixar films. Which is amazing considering that Pixar have had a number of mature and ambitious themes and stories. 'Soul' executes this in a very bold and never dumbed down or convoluted manner. Can understand where people are coming from when they talk about it being more for older viewers than children, but from my experience as a young adult but a child at heart 'Soul' made me laugh and gave me the feels, as well as left me deep in thought. Something that Pixar was very good at in most of their films. Personally didn't find the ending rushed or too neat, and actually found it pretty poignant.

My summary is NOT because "Soul" is dirty or inappropriate for children. Instead, I say this because it's clearly marketed towards teens and, especially, adults. The usual cute sidekicks and kiddie stuff is missing from this CGI film and the jazz score also might be a bit off-putting to younger audience members. That and I don't think they'd be able to follow the story for what it really is. The CGI for the film is perfect. It's not all cutesy-cutesy like most CGI films nor is it ultra-realistically creepy like a few (such as "Mars Needs Moms"). It's also nice to see a nice urban contemporary look to the picture. My only complaint, and it's a minor one, is that I think the final portion could have been tightened up a bit. But on the other hand, it's a one of a kind movie...one that is very, very different from Pixar's other products.

Brilliant film and more than deserving of its acclaim. Thank goodness it came along when it did. 10/10

{I'm sorry but this soul is mine, for sure! - So that's where my soul is?}