Soul

Pixar’s Best Movie for Adults

By Morgan Hamernik

Way back in April, I decided to watch all 22 Pixar movies and rank them. When determining which movies were better than others, I considered their characters, their messages, the nostalgia I associated with them, and if they made me cry, among other things. Yes, I gave them a score. Maybe I was regressing because I had recently been sent home from the dorms, but it was great to rewatch the movies that I grew up with and finally get to the ones I had never seen. After five days and multiple blue-light-induced headaches, my subjective ranking was complete, and I felt accomplished. For those dying to know, Cars was my #1. 

So, when I heard that Soul released on Christmas Day, I just had to see where it ended up in my official Pixar ranking. I had seen great reviews circling social media, so I sat myself down on my couch, a bowl of popcorn in my lap, and dove right in. I expected a cute, funny movie as most other Pixar films are, but I was greatly mistaken. It was much more than that. 

Soul follows Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx), a middle school band teacher, who is offered a full-time position at his school but is hesitant to accept because his true passion is playing jazz music. The same day, he is offered an audition with a legendary musician and gets the gig, but on his way home, he suffers a coma-inducing accident that sends his soul to the afterlife. Panicked, he tries to escape, but his soul ends up in the "Great Before," a place where new souls prepare for their journey to Earth. There, he meets 22 (Tina Fey), a soul who refuses to go to Earth, convinced that it's just "a stinky planet." They strike up a deal: they'll find a way to get 22 a pass to Earth so that she can give it to Joe–he'll go back to his body, and 22 will stay in the Great Before. Naturally, however, this plan backfires. Joe gets stuck in the body of a therapy cat, and 22 finds herself in Joe's body. They struggle to find a way to reverse this mistake, but along the way, they both learn a lot about what it means to truly live. 

Complicated, right? It's obvious that this movie isn't geared towards children like other Pixar films from the get-go. I'm sure most kids won't relate to a burnt-out middle-aged man desperately trying to find meaning in his life, nor will they get many of the jokes. You can't tell me they put the line "I'm a manipulative megalomaniac, who's intensely opportunistic" or jabs at hedge fund managers in the film for the kids. Still, it deals with complicated topics like death, souls, the afterlife, and finding purpose in an easily digestible way. Such is the movie's charm: a few scattered funny references in a story about difficult themes, all wrapped up in Pixar's typical pleasant animation. It's similar to Inside Out in this way. 

Subject matter aside, this movie is aesthetically beautiful. The parts on Earth are set in New York and take place over one day. We see the sunrise and fall, casting a warm orange glow over the whole movie. Coupled with jazz music, this makes for a nostalgic atmosphere that feels almost like a warm hug. In the spiritual realm, the animation is a lot more simplistic. Meditative music plays in the background, and everything seems to glow. 

What truly sets this movie apart from the rest is its meaning. Joe is lost, torn between a stable job and pursuing his passion; jazz music is what makes his life worth living. Still, from multiple characters, we hear that jazz is all Joe talks about. It isn't until he sees 22 experience the little joys in life for the first time, like feeling the gust of air from a street vent or watching a performer in the subway, that he genuinely realizes where his "spark" comes from. At the end of the movie, he sits down at his piano, setting off a montage of his life and some of the little moments that seemed so insignificant the first time we saw them. He realizes that life is more than just the one thing we may be good at. It's about living. When given a second chance at life and asked what he's going to do with it, he responds, "I'm going to live every minute of it." 

At the very end, Joe takes a deep breath and exhales, ready to begin his new life with purpose. The movie itself feels like an exhale–it's a reminder to the audience that we need to enjoy life while we can and not get lost in the hustle and bustle of daily life and its expectations. This movie seems to have been released at the perfect time. It was in the works for four years but just happened to be released during a pandemic, when all of us are feeling a little lost. We can learn a few lessons from Joe. 

So, where did Soul rank on my list? It came in right in the middle at number twelve. That might seem low, but the movie doesn't fit in the bounds of my mildly childish criteria if I'm honest. No, Joe doesn't stand a chance next to iconic characters like Mike and Sully or Nemo, but it blows all the other films out of the water in terms of meaning. It isn't every day you come across a children's movie that makes you think about your purpose. Soul is a beacon of hope in such an uncertain world, reminding us to truly live as if it's our last day on Earth. What can compare to that?