Once upon a time, Pixar was the studio that made films about niche categories of characters: toys, bugs, monsters, sea creatures and superheroes.
Today that’s no longer Pixar’s most recognizable trait. Instead the studio has developed a reputation for its “sad” family movies. This era started with the overall depressing atmosphere of Wall-E. Then came the iconically heartbreaking opening of Up. Next, the bittersweet conclusion to Toy Story 3. Inside Out broke new ground for Pixar when it killed one of its protagonists in a non-introductory scene. And Toy Story 4 shocked audiences, when instead of reversing part 3’s melancholy tone, it took it to another level.
So where does Soul fit into this discussion? One might think it represents the peak of Pixar’s sad era. The film is the story of Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx), a middle-school band teacher and aspiring Jazz pianist. When he’s given his big chance to play with star saxophonist Dorothea Williams (Angela Basset) he anti-climatically falls down a hole… and dies!
As I watched Joe fall, and re-emerge as a glowing blue figure on a translucent stair case, I couldn’t help but think, “you’ve gone too far this time Pixar. This is going to be a film about how death awaits us all and we have to learn to accept it. Maybe some people think Joe will escape the afterlife, but I can see your messaging from a mile away!”
Maybe that was the film’s original premise. In an interview with Rolling Stone, director/co-writer Pete Docter explains that Soul was initially a heist movie in which Joe and another character try to steal an “Earth Pass” so he can return to his body. But ultimately, the filmmakers came to think that maybe Joe’s life was too interesting to just throw away for a lesson on inevitable mortality.
Instead of death, Soul comments on the meaning of life. And the commentary the film provides is profound, but also vague. For some viewers, this vagueness might prove alienating. If Soul has one weakness, it’s that it has a bit too much going on to bring things all together in its modest run time. The most obvious illustration of this is the rushed development of the film’s deuteragonist, Soul 22 (Tina Fey). While she certainly gets a full character arc, her actual transformation feels more overstated than those of say Dory or Buzz Lightyear.
Soul is a wonderful collage of character and spatial imagination. It brings together ethereal Picasso creatures (Alice Braga and Richard Ayoade), a goody-two-shoes villain (Rachel House), and a magical, hippy-Ahab (Graham Norton).
Yet Soul’s ambition goes beyond these elements of craftsmanship. Pixar has long reigned as the pinnacle of children’s animation: more grounded than Disney, and more heartfelt than virtually everything else. This ambition drove Pixar to speak to the big question (“the meaning of life”).
But now that the questions been answered, maybe it’s time for Pixar to turn a new leaf. Not all “great” kids movies have to be Toy Story 3. Woody and Buzz’s first two adventures were pretty darn good as well! Soul may or may not be the end of this Pixar era, but make no mistake, it is a unique, whimsical work that truly brings swing to the sombre.
© 2021. UniversalCinema Mag.