When Joe Gardner finally gets the chance to show off his talents in jazz and piano-playing alongside a well-known jazz musician, he is suddenly put into a coma after an unexpected accident. His soul is now on the path of going to the Great Beyond, which Joe denies to accept his upcoming death right when his life can turn around into something special. Stalling time by attempting to mentor a troublesome soul who refuses to start living on Earth, the two manage to find a way back to the living but with a catch. Joe is now inside the body of a cat, while the soul, 22, is in his body. As the two try to get Joe prepared for his performance, they start to learn about the true joys of life and fulfillment... kind of. I was wrapped up in the story and Pixar's attempt at making a film centred on the tricky questions of life and purpose. While it does work out in the most part, the ending manages to keep it from reaching a satisfying or deserved conclusion. I will get to the ending later in the review, but it's one of the only problems of the film that keeps it from being one of the best in the studio's filmography. Aside of that, I really like the tone the film is going for. Similar to "Coco", the movie is more focused on the maturity and emotional beats rather than trying to make kids laugh most of the time. That's not to say there's no goofy moments or jokes, but it's more downplayed compared to films like "Inside Out" or "Onward". I prefer the scenes in the living world compared to the Great Before due to the grounded nature, but the Great Before is still engaging on a visual and imaginative level. It's like "Coco" in regards to trying to force humour for the kids due to being a family film. The humour isn't the funniest, but it's acceptable for the ambition of the overall story and themes.
Jamie Foxx as Joe Gardner gives out a fantastic vocal performance as the middle-aged music teacher who is struggling to accept his pending death and how he never accomplished anything in life. Foxx is so good that I forget that it's him at times mainly due to the character design of Joe as well as the more somber personality of the character. Tina Fey plays 22, a soul who refuses to join the living world due to her lack of passion in anything that she can be born to do. Much like Foxx, you get so used to Fey that she's almost unrecognizable even when the film addresses her voice to begin with. While she seems a bit annoying at first in the soul world as she's responsible for the hit and miss comedy, she starts to get more interesting upon entering Joe's body as she realizes that she just wants to experience the little things of life rather than be focused on one goal. Aside from the two leads, there's some decent side characters to boot, albeit in the living world. There's Phylicia Rashad as Libba Gardener, Joe's mother who concerns over his state in life, Donnell Rawlings as Dez, Joe's barber who's just so charming and wholesome in the one scene he's in, and there's Angela Bassett's Dorothea Williams, a jazz musician who is stunned by Joe's skills but starts having second thoughts on collaborating with him upon an embarrassing encounter. As for the characters in the Great Before, there's Graham Norton's Moonwind, a sign twirler who can transcend to the spiritual world, the Jerrys, the unisex soul counselors who help guide new souls before they get sent on Earth, and lastly, there's Terry voiced by Rachel House, an accountant who is after Joe for evading his death. While Terry is more of an obstacle rather than an antagonist, I just don't like the inclusion of the character and feel that they either needed to alter the character to be the embodiment of Death or just remove the character altogether. Terry just feels too silly and out-of-place in the otherwise creative writing. Aside of Terry and the more humorous Jerrys, the characters are quite enjoyable with Foxx and Fey serving as great leads.
The animation is where Pixar allows both a sense of familiarity and freshness into a visually-gorgeous package. Starting with the Great Before, it's charmingly abstract with the environment and new souls being fuzzy and soft while the Jerrys are these Picasso-esque people that look 2D along with their unique movements. The Great Beyond is this haunting yet beautiful landscape where the contrast of white and black along with the escalator to the afterlife is pure art. With the case of the living world, the animation style gets a bit experimental. While the cityscape, objects, clothing and hair of the inhabitants of New York City are so extremely detailed that it can look almost life-like at times, the character designs of the humans is a mix of being realistic and exaggerated in terms of their body size and facial structure. It seems jarring at first, but it starts to feel natural as the film goes on. The music is also pretty good with the heavy emphasis on jazz music considering the character of Joe. Aside from the various jazz sequences, especially when Joe plays on his piano, there's also the more orchestrated music for the Great Beyond, The Great Before, and the revelation sequence when Joe realizes the true pleasures of life... sort of. Yeah, now it's time to address the ending of the film. I'm not going to lie, the ending itself isn't bad in concept as it has an open-ended conclusion where Joe plans to live his life one moment at a time. The issue with this particular ending though is that it feels inconsistent to the story the film was building up. For example, we learn that Joe is in or was in love with a woman named Lisa. While it seems that the ending will have the two meet up or reconcile, we never see Lisa at all in the film. Another example is Joe's position on being a band teacher, especially after praising one of his students for their passion. But, the film never shows Joe accepting the full-time position or not, despite this job paralleling his journey with 22 for the entire film. Lastly, there's the overall idea of what Joe feels about playing with Dorothea Williams. While the film acts like Joe feel out of love with jazz, it clearly shows that he still loves playing music, but is just not sure of being a musician. The film straight up ignores these three resolutions and just acts vague for the sake of being vague. Perhaps it was meant to be open-ended for different viewers, but the ending to the film just feels underwhelming and somewhat rushed. It's not enough to discredit the talent of the animation, music and direction by Pete Doctor and Kemp Powers, but it's just a bit of a sour note to end the otherwise riveting film on.
"Soul" is almost a top contender of Pixar's works. While the film suffers from the character of Terry being an out-of-place obstacle for the story and tone and the ending overall doesn't pay off well, the film is still a great film from the legendary studio. From the engaging story and themes, the more down-to-earth tone and lack of humour, Joe Gardner is one of Pixar's most human protagonists thanks to Foxx's vocal performance, Tina Fey's 22 acts as a great reflection of the film's themes in regards to the pleasures of life, the side characters are charming and enjoyable thanks to the wholesome cast, the animation is extremely creative and detailed in regards to world-building and character designs, and the music incorporates the wonderful sounds of jazz alongside a great original score for the various environments and emotional payoffs. It's a movie that I was glad to watch and hope to own, but it's stained from a few poor story decisions that ruins an otherwise surefire masterpiece.
Verdict: 8/10. Great movie, but could've reached full potential with a rewrite. Check it out on Disney+ for free or in theatres if the streaming service isn't accessible for you.
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