Pixar's Soul

NateD1226

NateD1226

Well-Known Member
Soul debuts with a 100% on rotten tomatoes with 14 critic reviews. Obviously that isn't that many reviews and will definitely change as time goes on, but it's a great start.

www.rottentomatoes.com

Soul | Rotten Tomatoes

Joe is a middle-school band teacher whose life hasn't quite gone the way he expected. His true passion is jazz -- and he's good. But when he travels to another realm to help someone find their passion, he soon discovers what it means to have soul.
www.rottentomatoes.com www.rottentomatoes.com
 
TheOriginalTiki

TheOriginalTiki

Well-Known Member
Went ahead and stayed up until midnight to watch Soul. To quote @mickeyfan5534...I have thoughts. ;) All in all I will say it's a spectacular film. Combining the best of Pixar comedy writing with the heady concepts we've come to except from Pete Docter. Some of the afterlife stuff is just beyond creative and I don't dare spoil how insanely clever some of the world-building concepts are.

A lot of it feels very Infinity Train-esque in a good way. 22 works way better as a secondary protagonist than the trailer leads you to believe. There's a TON of characterization on her end you simply don't see in the trailers. Joe is possibly one of the most complex and multi-faceted leads in a Pixar film. This does for middle age what Up does for old age.

Couple spoilery things to bring up. Read at your own risk...

So...they basically pulled off a sucessful version of Brave with the body switch plot line. If that was in any of the later trailers, I'm so glad I held back on marketing when I did because MAN what a surprise in-movie to find out that the whole film isn't going to be some Inside Out style metaphysical adventure. Things in the film are still insanely creative after the twist, but take on a MUCH more humanistic tone. Some of my favorite moments are simply 22 in Joe's body taking everything in. The barbershop scene in particular feels really special. Just such a fantastic plot point to really get to explore both of the main characters.

And that ending though!

When Joe goes with 22 down to Earth after she gets her sticker...tears. First tears of the movie, but DAMN they came hard and fast in that moment. I was REALLY hoping the film would just cut to credits right as 22 is about to hit Earth. It doesn't, which leads to probably the most divisive thing in the movie for me and I'm curious to get other people's takes on it...Does anyone feel like Joe just getting a free pass back to Earth was a little cheap? It's a LITERAL last minute move for the story.

Don't get me wrong, it absolutely feels EARNED in a "Joe has discovered the meaning of life and now gets to lead a more fulfilling existence" kind of way and I LOVE that they leave the issue of the teaching job vs. the dream gig ambiguous. That being said in spite of the hilarious way we sidestep the numbers at the end, I think it makes Joe's sacrifice for 22 in the final act ring just a little less true. I was convinced the film was going to end with Joe becoming a mentor in the Great Before which would carry on how he found his love for teaching throughout the film. Really need to see the film again and like I said on paper it all works, I just think the move to keep Joe dead would have elevated this movie all the more.

Also, can I get some love for my man Moonwind

a sign-spinner hippie who spends his time in the metaphysical realm riding around in a big ship blaring Subterranean Homesick Blues?? Are you KIDDING ME??? This guy was both MADE for me, and easily the most clever bit of world-building in the film. I loved every second he was on screen.
 
waltography

waltography

Well-Known Member
TheOriginalTiki said:
Went ahead and stayed up until midnight to watch Soul. To quote @mickeyfan5534...I have thoughts. ;) All in all I will say it's a spectacular film. Combining the best of Pixar comedy writing with the heady concepts we've come to except from Pete Docter. Some of the afterlife stuff is just beyond creative and I don't dare spoil how insanely clever some of the world-building concepts are.

A lot of it feels very Infinity Train-esque in a good way. 22 works way better as a secondary protagonist than the trailer leads you to believe. There's a TON of characterization on her end you simply don't see in the trailers. Joe is possibly one of the most complex and multi-faceted leads in a Pixar film. This does for middle age what Up does for old age.

Couple spoilery things to bring up. Read at your own risk...

So...they basically pulled off a sucessful version of Brave with the body switch plot line. If that was in any of the later trailers, I'm so glad I held back on marketing when I did because MAN what a surprise in-movie to find out that the whole film isn't going to be some Inside Out style metaphysical adventure. Things in the film are still insanely creative after the twist, but take on a MUCH more humanistic tone. Some of my favorite moments are simply 22 in Joe's body taking everything in. The barbershop scene in particular feels really special. Just such a fantastic plot point to really get to explore both of the main characters.

And that ending though!

When Joe goes with 22 down to Earth after she gets her sticker...tears. First tears of the movie, but DAMN they came hard and fast in that moment. I was REALLY hoping the film would just cut to credits right as 22 is about to hit Earth. It doesn't, which leads to probably the most divisive thing in the movie for me and I'm curious to get other people's takes on it...Does anyone feel like Joe just getting a free pass back to Earth was a little cheap? It's a LITERAL last minute move for the story.

Don't get me wrong, it absolutely feels EARNED in a "Joe has discovered the meaning of life and now gets to lead a more fulfilling existence" kind of way and I LOVE that they leave the issue of the teaching job vs. the dream gig ambiguous. That being said in spite of the hilarious way we sidestep the numbers at the end, I think it makes Joe's sacrifice for 22 in the final act ring just a little less true. I was convinced the film was going to end with Joe becoming a mentor in the Great Before which would carry on how he found his love for teaching throughout the film. Really need to see the film again and like I said on paper it all works, I just think the move to keep Joe dead would have elevated this movie all the more.

Also, can I get some love for my man Moonwind?

a sign-spinner hippie who spends his time in the metaphysical realm riding around in a big ship blaring Subterranean Homesick Blues?? Are you KIDDING ME??? This guy was both MADE for me, and easily the most clever bit of world-building in the film. I loved every second he was on screen.
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Totally agree with your thoughts. It has the ideas of Inside Out with the heart and dynamic of Up, which is such a winning combo. It's up there with Wall-E and Up in my top three for sure.

Some spoilers things to respond to yours:

The movie does an insanely good job dealing with memory and sensory experience. When Joe reaches into his pocket and pulls out all the tokens 22 collected when she experienced Earth I just about started bawling there and wouldn't stop until he got back in the zone. Easily the best few minutes of the movie for me; it captured so beautifully the simple joy of living and I was so unprepared for it.

Joe getting the free pass back to Earth was a little bit like cheating for sure, but to be honest, I don't know how they'd end the movie with Joe moving onto The Great Beyond - it's a Pixar movie, after all. 😂 I understood the mentor program in the Great Before as a detour to the Great Beyond for "exceptional" souls; they only mentored one soul to find their spark and then they moved on. I also didn't want to wish it on Joe's mom considering he'd already died once without her knowing, so I let it slide; would've been too much darkness hanging at the end for me, almost like if Carl died at the end of Up and some proxy giving Russell the soda pin.

The whole Moonwind sequence was a blast. Was also super excited they had a Pinoy character as part of the gang as a Filipino myself. 😂

For me, I'm still thinking through and kind of rationalizing the expected critiques of the movie. It's no Princess and the Frog fiasco where the black lead's a frog for 90% of the movie, at least... but it spends quite a bit of time in the body switch mode where a coded white woman's experiencing life through a black body. Then, part of the way through, she wrestles the agency away from his own body right at the moment he should've gotten it back.

It all ends well and dandy for sure, but those few minutes from meeting Moonwind at the club to Terry catching them were personally harrowing - not just for the characters but for my whole perception of the movie. Don't know if you had any similar thoughts or reasoning from the movie.

In all, I can't sing praises enough for the movie. So, so, so, so good, from the animation to the music and back again.
 
Fox&Hound

Fox&Hound

Well-Known Member
Watched it tonight with my family and we were all sadly extremely underwhelmed by Soul. There was just nothing to it. It seemed like a subpar version of "Inside Out" which they did infinitely better. None of the characters were very engaging and the ending was very lacking. Not sure what the characters learned along the way or what story they were trying to tell. There were moments that were good (barbershop scene) but the idea of a character being "transformed" for most of the movie seems redundant by now. I love that the lead was an African American male and I wish, like with Tiana, that the movie was more about him and less about the bait and switch they do ten minutes into the film. I feel like they had one thousand different ideas with this movie and none of them landed. Nothing was that funny and at the end of the film I can only tell you one of the character's names which was the lead, Joe. I was looking forward to it and wanted to love it. It was no "Good Dinosaur" but it was nowhere near their other masterpieces. I think the fact that is was feee on Disney+ means that they know it did not turn out as well as they expected. Anyone else feel disappointed by it?
 
waltography

waltography

Well-Known Member
Fox&Hound said:
I think the fact that is was free on Disney+ means that they know it did not turn out as well as they expected.
Click to expand...
I respect your opinion on the movie, but I don't know if I'd attribute the movie being free on Disney+ to mean they weren't happy with the quality, particularly given the glowing reviews it's gotten for the most part. I think if anything, Investor Day showed us they really didn't have much choice in when to release Soul since every major slot in 2021 onwards is pretty much full.
 

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