The thing about movies from Pixar is that they flirt with advanced concrete thought, while simultaneously serving as the most excellent entertainment source for children. That has never been truer than with its latest, the soul searching and impeccably monikered Soul.
Jamie Foxx stars as Jon Gardner and he’s spent his life balancing the reality his mother wants for him and the lifelong dreams that were instilled in him from his late father. Gardner loves jazz and has been making his living as a part-time band instructor at a middle school. As a professional jazz pianist, he is just waiting for his shot. Fate intervenes when a former student, Curly (Questlove), calls and says that a superstar sax player needs a piano player when hers drops out right before a New York City featured show and a tour.
Then, as shown in the Soul trailer, he falls into a hole and perishes. But, to my surprise, Soul is not a movie about the afterlife or even the choices made during a life and how it is viewed as a totality. Directors Pete Doctor and Kemp Powers have delivered a story that is about those elements, but about so much more including our life before we are even born to what we are “meant” to be or become. It’s a highly heart-pulling tale that should resonate with all souls across the audience spectrum.
See, Gardner does something that apparently no soul has done prior. As he is heading to the Great Beyond, he walks, er runs, in the opposite direction—knowing that this is a mistake. Or it must be a mistake. He was given the gig of a lifetime and then moments later he dies? No, just no! What Jon ends up doing is falling through a spectrum and landing in a landscape that features nurturing souls readying to become babies. Clearly, he doesn’t belong there, but fate has ideas for Gardner, and it involves Tina Fey’s 23.
23 is a molding soul who has been around for thousands of years. She doesn’t want to go down to Earth, thinks it is a waste of time, boring, and lacks any kind of cull for her. 23 and Gardner’s fates are intertwined in ways that are profound and immensely interconnected to the success in life (or death) of either. It’s a brilliant premise, but one that might go over younger viewers’ heads. Yes, Pixar makes movies for kids, and this is animated children’s fare, but there is an entire plotline about life and purpose that may be a wee bit heady for the younger viewers. That being said, the lessons about life and living it to the fullest and knowing that we may not have just one purpose, but many—are priceless mores about this journey we all take on the planet Earth.
Foxx makes his Pixar debut in such a sweeping manner that it has to go down as one of the fabled animation houses’ most divine debuts. Fey plays off of Foxx fantastically. The two are incredible together and each brings exactly what is needed to their characters to drive the narrative to unforeseen and welcoming places. Separately they embody these souls in the most unusual and unexpected ways. In many ways, 23 is more astute, learned, and wise than Gardner, yet Gardner has the real-world experience to open up 23’s eyes that maybe, just maybe, heading down to earth into a baby’s body would not be such a bad endeavor.
The two play off each other in playful, yet oftentimes serious moments that are emblematic of the entire Soul cinematic experience. This is a deep film, one that will make you think, long after the credits roll. Doctor and Powers have a handle on the direction that is pitch-perfect. Their film never tries to something it’s not, yet at the same time, it is a movie that is hard to quantify and explain through cagey descriptors and summations.
The musical score from Oscar winners (for The Social Network) Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is sensational. It not only captures the essence of the film itself but provides it its tone in many ways. The two composers have a gift beyond compare and now can proudly boast that they are equally adept at scoring a David Fincher hard-edge revenge thriller (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), but also a Pixar movie. I mean, who can do that? The Nine Inch Nails leader is prolific, after all, he and Atticus just penned the score to Mank earlier this year as well. Simply stunning.
The entire voice cast is absolutely stunning as each fits their part like a glove. Starting with UK television personality Graham Norton as Moonwind, who plays an enormous role in the fate of Joe and 23. Alice Braga, Wes Studi, and Richard Ayoade all do stellar work as Counselor Jerry (each person in the pre-birth region is named Jerry). It’s a complicated needle to thread, but there is something about each of their performances that will leave you stunned. Phylicia Rashad is mesmerizing as Libba, while Donnell Rawlings dazzles as Dez. Angela Bassett’s Dorothea is a gift of the highest order. Meanwhile, Daveed Diggs’ Paul is every bit Pixar perfection.
Soul is a deeply meaningful movie that will have you looking at your own life, and most importantly the choices we all make that wind up defining a lifetime. The musical element, with the jazz music and the passion for that milieu of music, is a gift to all of those who have ever picked up an instrument to play jazz and for those who even simply press play or drop a needle on it to listen to the consummate American musical form.
Grade: A