Soul

 Well, it's been awhile since I was able to write about seeing a first run motion picture on opening weekend. 

The last time the fam made an excursion from the Fortress of Ineptitude to see a new movie in a theater on opening weekend was Pixar's Onward. 

This weekend, it was once again a Pixar film but nope, no excursions from the Fortress this time. We watched this new opening weekend release was through Disney+. 

Soul opens with the standard image of Disney's magical kingdom to the usual strains of "When You Wish Upon a Star". Except the music is discordant and off key, as if played by a middle school band. 

Which it is. We meet Joe Gardner, a middle school music teacher who feels stuck in life and unfulfilled at his job. He dreams of being a full time jazz musician.  

Joe gets a chance to audition as a piano player for  Dorothea Williams, a respected jazz musician and saxophone player.  She is impressed enough to give him a spot on her quartet. 

Giddy that his life's goal is within reach, Joe falls down a manhole.

This turn of events is pretty much in keeping with how I think life works. 

So Joe is now a soul heading towards the "Great Beyond". Joe can't die now; he's booked! He has a gig! 

Joe makes a break for it but winds up in the "Great Before" where unborn souls are prepared for life on Earth. 

Except for Soul 22. 

Soul 22 has remained in the Great Before for millennia and sees no point in living on Earth. 22 reveals that she has a badge that fills up with traits. She needs to find her "spark" to complete it which she has successfully avoided doing to avoid going to Earth.  

If  Joe can help her fill the badge, 22 will give the badge to Joe so he can return to life on Earth.  

By the way, in what may be a Disney/Pixar first, the word "hell" is said. A lot. Joe asks if he is in heaven or "H - E - double hockey sticks". The young childlike unborn souls around him start saying the word "hell" over and over. (Like the seagulls in Finding Nemo saying "mine" repeatedly.)  

Eventually Joe gets back to Earth but accidentally brings 22 with him. And adding to the mayhem, 22 winds up in Joe's body while Joe's soul winds up in the body of a therapy cat. 

Meanwhile, Terry, an accountant designated to counting souls headed to the Great Beyond, finds the count off and is on a mission to return the missing soul.

After millennia of resisting all efforts to get her to Earth, 22 in Joe's body discovers all sorts of little things she likes about being alive. Watching from the cat, Joe is astonished to see how well 22 is living Joe's life. 

But Joe is still determined to get his body back and his life back. He is focused on playing that gig with Dorothea Williams.  

Soul asks big questions about life on the macro level: what happens after we die? What happens before we are born?

And Soul asks big questions about life on the micro level:  What does an individual do with their life? How does a person find their purpose, their passion, their spark? 

Joe Gardner assumes jazz is his spark. He's good at it, he enjoys it. With 22 navigating his life, Joe learns that the spark of life is both bigger and smaller than his music.  

Some very heady stuff for a Pixar movie. 

Soul is not a kids movie with some stuff for the adults tagging along. This is very much a movie for grown ups. 

I've seen a couple of reviews that while positive admitted their kids wandered off. 

When Soul ended with it's life affirming message to live each day to it's fullest, I informed my family, "I don't mind telling you that I am a bit depressed right now. 

Telling me to live each day to it's fullest is way more of a burden than I'm usually prepared to cope with. 

Director Peter Docter describeds Soul as "an exploration of, where should your focus be? What are the things that, at the end of the day, are really going to be the important things that you look back on and go, 'I spent a worthy amount of my limited time on Earth worrying or focused on that'?".

OK, that is way too much pressure.  Can I just go back to bed and take a nap now?  

When Soul isn't trying to twist my soul into a knot of existential angst, it's certainly is a visual spectacle to look at. From the rattle and hum of New York City's streets to the cosmic journey to the Great Beyond to the ethereal wonders of the Great Before, Pixar pulls out the stops with a very visually appealing look. 

And Soul sounds as good as it looks.  Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails composed a new-age score for the metaphysical segments of the score; Jon Batiste composed original jazz songs for the New York City-based segments.  

The voice cast is very good with Jamie Foxx in fine form as the voice of Joe Gardner.  22's cynical viewpoint is given voice with the perfectly cast Tina Fey; Tina also contributed to the screenplay.  

John Ratzenberger who has never missed a Pixar movie is not in the credits but he's still there as an offscreen voice in Joe's memories.   

I would dare say Soul is perhaps Pixar's crowning achievement that is both enjoyable and thought provoking. Even it makes me confront the meaning of life and the purpose of my own existence.

I think I'm gonna lie down and take a nap now.