All right, time to gush about Soul, Pixar's latest which aired on Disney + on Christmas Day. I'm aware that I'm in danger of overpraising this film as I didn't have any high hopes for it, and was bowled over when it turned out to be top-class Pixar stuff.
The trailers are to blame for my low expectations. They mostly showed clips from the "soul world", leading the viewer to think that Joe, the film's protagonist, would be a blue blob most of the time. The gags in the trailers showing him interacting with unborn soul 22 weren't very funny - I thought the joke about food going right through you was gross already when it appeared in Olaf's Frozen Adventure. Worst of all, we had a trailer where Joe had a whole would-be inspiring speech about making the most of your life by being brilliant and passionate and not wasting time on the daily grind - "what do you want to be known for?". A scene that really put me off was when what appeared to be an office worker suddenly exclaimed "What am I doing with my life?" and swept away his computer screens. The film's message seemed to be "Go live your dream! Fulfil your potential!". Nothing wrong with that, but we'd be in a fine state if everyone was off chasing their dreams and no-one deigned to touch everyday, unglamorous, not-overly-creative work that pays the rent. In my experience, even creative people are no worse off for getting a day job. Consequently, I felt grumpy towards the film before even having seen it.
When the film started out, it seemed as if my predictions would be fulfilled. Joe Gardner, a jazz-mad middle-aged guy, is earning his keep as a music teacher in a school in New York, but dreaming of a life as a jazz pianist. At the beginning of the film he is offered a steady, full-time job at the school, including a pension plan, but he's not happy about it. Then, thanks to a grateful former pupil, he's offered the chance of the gig of a lifetime, playing with the celebrated Dorothea Williams and her band. All he has to do is to turn up at seven the following day and be amazing. And then he falls down a manhole... The next thing he knows, his soul (the blue blob) finds itself on a moving stairway to The Great Beyond. While frantically trying to escape his fate, Joe instead ends up in The Great Before, where unborn souls are being prepared for their life on Earth.
Joe is given the task of mentoring 22, who doesn't want to go to Earth at all. She is missing the last ingredient in her personality: the "spark" that will make her prepared to face life. Like Joe, I assumed that the "spark" was more or less the soul's purpose for living and had to be some great talent or creative interest. Joe and 22 visit a place called "The Zone", where people in a creative flow are gliding around in a trance-like state. We also see "lost souls", stuck in an obsession, who have to be helped by a bunch of hippie souls. One of the lost souls is a hedge-fund manager, the guy with the computer screens from the trailer. Ooh, I see, so jazz pianist - good life choice, hedge-fund manager - bad life choice, eh? My hackles were rising.
But then there's a turn. The lead hippie soul tells Joe that the souls in The Zone aren't that different from the lost souls, and that it's dangerous to be stuck there for too long. Then, as Joe manages to get back to Earth with 22 in tow - owing to mishaps, she lands in his body and he in the body of a cat - it turns out that what makes her more and more happy with Earth life isn't some grand passion for jazz or similar but everyday occurrences and connections with other people. It becomes increasingly clear that the message of the film isn't that everyday life risks stifling your dreams but the very opposite: that dreaming is all very well, but pursuing one great goal can make you blind to the simple pleasures of everyday life.
This was a message it was so much easier to get behind. True, it's not exactly the first time one hears it - "stop and smell the roses" is one expression for it. But it's heartening and life-affirming; enjoying a slice of pizza (or similar - personally I'm not that into pizza) or walking down a busy street on a fine autumn day are things anyone can do. You don't have to be some sort of creative genius. Even talented people like Joe needn't feel that their life is pointless if they don't get their big break. There's a very Pixar-y epiphany scene where Joe looks back on his life and realises that it wasn't as dreary as he thought: it was full of sweet and enjoyable moments. With this insight, he is even ready to face The Great Beyond if need be. (I'm not going to give away if he has to.)
Though the soul realms were colourful and often imaginative - the "counselors" in charge are depicted as 2-D Picasso-like creatures, showing them to be embodiments of concepts that are abstract to the human mind, and unceremoniously called "Jerry" - I enjoyed the New York scenes the most, so it's a good thing the film finds its way back there. It's also a mercy that the body swap isn't permanent. Yes, there are some standard ingredients in this film which we've seen a hundred times - where the protagonists fall out, one of them is a jerk to the other and neither can be truly happy before a grovelling apology has been made etc. Also, having presumably gone through the self-absorption portal when I was in The Great Beyond, it didn't even occur to me before a YouTuber pointed it out that the film might not be the most child-friendly Pixar fare. But these are small gripes: to me, Soul is the best Pixar film we've had in quite a while. It doesn't quite beat Inside Out overall in my book, but message-wise, I preferred this one.
