Soul

“Soul”

Directors: Pete Docter, Kemp Powers. Cast: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton, Alice Braga, Richard Ayoade.

Let’s be honest, if you really wanted to pick hole in this film you could certainly do that (not quite sure why you’d want to do that, you heartless human being! )and you could easily argue that it’s not really a 5 stars film… And you may be right, but what it’s also true is that after a whole year of watching mainly junk or even just average-to-mediocre animated films (the likes of Secret Life of Pets come to mind) to find something like “Soul” a film which not only is beautiful to look at, but also explodes with life, ideas, thoughtfulness and most of all ambition, is enough for me to give it as many start as it needs to, if that’s what’s going to move you to watch it. Because we need more films like this not just for our children, but for our grown-up souls too.

This is so-so close to be a masterpiece that you just want to forgive it all the messy bits that don’t quite gel together. How do you even come up with an idea like this for what’s essentially a kids movie? This is the question I’ve been asking myself a lot watching most of the Pixar’s outcome, whether it’s Wall-E, Up, Inside Out, Coco… “Soul” perfectly marries the surreal with the mundane, the metaphysical with the everyday life of a New Yorker, the silly slapstick and the deep meaning of life (and the afterlife too). This marriage of extremes is not just in the story, but also in the animation style as well. This is one of the most gorgeous films from Pixar in years.

At times it may feel like it’s almost succumbing to the weight of the ideas it’s has, but just when you think it’s overdone it a bit, something wonderful comes along and you just fall in love with it again: whether it’s piece of Jazz being played by the characters so wonderfully that you forget you’re watching an cartoon, or whether it’s a hilarious scene where a cat and a human exchange souls, or the depiction of the afterlife (or rather the before-life), or the details of a hair-cut sequence at the barber shop…It is a film about life that doesn’t just celebrates life at its fullest but actually teaches you to appreciate the smallest things too, whether it’s just a ray of sun, or nature… or even a pizza.

The message to live every day of your life at its fullest is particularly poignant during this Covid-times. A very telling last credit at the end of the film says “created & producer at Pixar Animation Studios… And in home at least 6-feet away from each other. Well if that’s the result of working remotely from home, then this must be the future!

On Disney +