A Pixar Animation Studios Film
Story and Screenplay Written by Pete Doctor, Mike Jones & Kemp Powers
Directed by Pete Doctor Co-Directed by Kemp Powers
**** (four stars)
RATED PG
Tremendous!!
It has been five long years since the wizards of Pixar have released anything that I felt lived up to the gold standard of animation that they achieved and maintained for so much of their existence but have seemingly long abandoned in favor of creating an assembly line of uninspired sequels. It was truly enough to sadden me as Pixar has, from the very beginning, devised an ingenious way to merge the worlds of art and commerce as they made film after film that served as an artistic statement while raking in a bonanza of box office dollars plus subsequent merchandising. Everything was "win-win," and once the studio reached what I felt to be their pinnacle with three absolutely superlative films--Brad Bird's "Ratatouille" (2007), Andrew Stanton's "WALL-E" (2008) and Pete Doctor's "Up" (2009)--I felt them to be unstoppable.
I have been here before upon this blogsite with these laments concerning Pixar and the trajectory they chose to take upon themselves in the years since that outstanding trio of films and this let down I have felt with the bulk of their output since. Save for Pete Doctor's audacious, extraordinary "Inside Out" (2015), the sequel route has really not done much for Pixar outside of increasing its bottom line, as far as I am concerned. Or for those who would wish to quibble with me about that point, allow me to re-state.
My interest in Pixar releases dwindled considerably because the studio had reached a certain plateau where they were making the sorts of films that increasingly didn't seem to be relatively concerned if there were children in the audience or not. They were ensuring that what was being made was not disposable or forgettable. That even if the the films sailed over the heads of children, there would be enough to keep them entertained at the present and then, they would be the very films that they could grow with, thus making them timeless works of art. The glut of Pixar sequels, while beautifully rendered as always and as expected, in totality felt to fall dramatically short in terms of impact, affection and even purpose beyond existing as "lunchbox movies." And so, what was the point of me sitting through something that was obviously painstakingly made but emotionally thin to empty? Frankly, I just didn't wish to waste my time being further disappointed.
And now, we arrive with "Soul."
Pixar's "Soul," again directed by Pete Doctor and in collaboration with co-director Kemp Powers, is a full bodied return to unquestionable animated and storytelling glory as it is a film that beautifully extends from "Inside Out" and becomes something even more audacious, surprising, spectacular, innovative, boldly imaginative and emotionally provocative and while also remaining dazzling, playful, brisk, fanciful and enormously entertaining. It is the finest Pixar film since "Inside Out" and what's more, it is one of the very finest the studio has made to date.
"Soul" tells the story of Joe Gardner (voiced by Jamie Foxx), a middle school part time band teacher who feels unfulfilled with his current station in life as he continuously dreams of success as a jazz pianist, much to the chagrin of his seamstress Mother, Libby (voiced by Phylicia Rashad).
On one fateful day, professional jazz drummer Curley (voiced by Questlove), a former student of Joe's, reaches out and informs Joe that the great jazz artist/saxophonist Dorothea Williams (voiced by Angela Bassett) is playing in town that night and is in sudden need of a pianist. Joe auditions, gets the job on the spot, and in his elation of his life finally ascending as he has always wished, a freak accident occurs separating Joe's body from his soul, sending it on its way to The Great Beyond.
Unconvinced that he has indeed passed on, Joe's soul races away from The Great Beyond, finding himself within The Great Before, the domain where unborn souls are paired with soul counselors, all named Jerry (all voiced by Richard Ayoade, Alice Braga, Fortune Feimster, Zenobia Shroff and Wes Studi, respectively), in preparation for them to be assigned personalities traits as well as that elusive "spark" in order to ready themselves for their lives on Earth.
Masquerading as a mentor, while also attempting to elude the ever persistent Terry, the soul accountant in The Great Beyond (voiced by Rachel House), Joe's soul is paired with the belligerent, cyclical Soul 22 (voiced by Tina Fey), whose defiantly skeptical nature has avoided her from living life on Earth for as long as time itself.
From this point, Joe and 22 embark upon a metaphysical journey during which they each discover what exactly what is soul.
Pete Doctor's "Soul" is an absolute wonderment of a film. Even more than "Inside Out," I am stunned with how Doctor and his entire team have even able to take subject matter so esoteric and somehow make everything accessible. Where "Inside Out" was a film about emotions and our feelings about those emotions combined with the stages of memory and aging, "Soul" concerns itself with nothing less than the meaning of life and how that definition pertains to our individual and collective existences via our sense of fate, destiny, and inter-connectivity to all other living things.
In so many ways, "Soul" could very easily exist in the same neighborhood as Terrence Malick's "The Tree Of Life" (2011) but by the same token, and without delving into spoilers as to upend any potential surprises and entertainment for you, the film is also not too far removed from Alexander Hall's "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" (1941), Warren Beatty and Buck Henry's "Heaven Can Wait" (1978) and Carl Reiner's "All Of Me" (1984), as Doctor has injected his film with a sprightly pace and copious amounts of sharp, satirical and slapstick humor which keeps the proceedings flying high even as it never squanders any emotional and dramatic poignancy.
In fact, be prepared to find yourself exploring some extremely deep personal waters, and therefore, moved to a primal level, as the film probes the philosophy and psychology of Joe and 22's odyssey with a superlative empathy, openness and honesty. For both characters, and therefore for all of us as we watch, we are engaged with a story that asks of us to view and explore ourselves from the outside in as well as the inside out, which for both Joe and 22, allows them to learn about themselves in ways they otherwise would not.
For Joe, by having such a single minded pursuit in becoming a famous jazz artist existing as the one thing in life worth living for, is that a life lived at all? For 22, it is the discovery of what does it mean to live at all and the purpose being the act of existing and experiencing. I loved how the film took the time to challenge the characters and ourselves as to what it truly means to have purpose and whether having a purpose defines the meaning of one's soul. I also found an especially deep connection to the film's metaphysical landscape's depiction and representation of lost souls and the inner demons that can so easily rise up to engulf our spirit, thus crippling our ability to engage and fully live. And to that end, we, and the film, question where our personalities actually derive from and how they are shaped once we experience existence and even further, what happens when we are confronted with the inevitability of death.
From end to end, "Soul" implores of its characters and all of us to essentially do what it takes to "Know Thyself," as the full knowledge of who we are is a life long quest that is forever changing, is forever challenged (especially when the perceived disappointments of one's parents possesses a powerful influence and impact upon one's sense of self-perception) and hopefully filled with some sense of enlightenment, if we are open enough to receive all of the messages the world, and therefore, we, are sending to ourselves.
Pete Doctor's "Soul," is a creative, inventive, emotional and existential feast and this film emerging from Pixar, it is undeniably a full, lush cinematic feast, one in which these wizards have truly outdone themselves and have advanced so incredibly far from when they first blew our collective minds with John Lasseter's game changing "Toy Story" (1995).
With the metaphysical worlds presented in "Soul," we are given a psychedelic wonderland filled with sumptuous impressionism and haunting symbolism. It is fantasia of colors, landscapes, moods, textures, colors, and even sounds as evidenced by the surprising space and depth as delivered by Composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, clearly the last people one might think of to score anything emerging from Pixar, and therefore, Disney...and the fit is perfection.
Even better are all of the elements that depict a real world New York City and every single frame is as resplendent as the sequences of Paris in "Ratatouille." From middle school classrooms, to apartments, jazz clubs, neighborhood storefronts and brownstones, city streets, sidewalks, clothing and even the sunlight flowing through the autumn leaves, the richness of detail is so photo realistic that every image felt as if they were from still photographs. A barbershop that Joe visits, in particular, deserves an award in and of itself due to the clear affection given towards its meticulous construction and presentation. I even took a moment to freeze frame shots just to have time for my eyes to really explore and drink the sights (admittedly an advantage to having the film to stream at home instead of seeing it for the first time in a theater, which is not an endorsement but merely an observation).
And to that end, we arrive at what may be its greatest success and that lies in the fact that representation is everything. It was so wise of Pete Doctor and the filmmakers to not solely have Joe exist as the studio's first African American leading character and just call it a day. From a visual standpoint, it was a dream to see the animated visage of a Black man so presented with such clarity and beauty and a natural quality of a real, living breathing Back gentleman. The way skin was colored and therefore illuminated was breathtaking for me to behold. And therefore, to witness all of our African American characters look, and therefore exist as the beautiful people we are in the real world was downright revolutionary. Great care was obviously taken to never present any that could be construed or even misconstrued as caricature. And just that is enough reason for me to celebrate this film...but Doctor went even further.
"Soul," while being celebratory of the life experience overall, it is a film that is also celebratory of the Black experience in particular yet in a way that is so matter-of-fact and slice of life rather than anything one could fathom as being remotely dogmatic or confrontational. We are given a supremely warm view into the Black family experience, from blood ties to the overall neighborhood and community, again including crucial areas of its schools, homes, night clubs and the barbershop, which also includes a variety of Black male figures living life, sharing conversations and aspirations together. We are then further given views into Black hair culture, Black history (Charles Drew, you ask? Look him up!)and of course, the magical, musical Black invented art form of jazz music itself, which features selections overseen by Jon Batiste.
To be represented with such detail, authenticity and affection was just one more way in which I felt to be seen and acknowledge as being an essential piece of our overall human connection and I deeply applaud Pete Doctor, Kemp Powers and the entire team for ensuring that the humanity of us as African American was served and embraced as profoundly as it was, and will forever be with this timeless film.
And timeless is precisely what we have with "Soul," the very type of film Pixar used to make and has returned to with a greater artistry than they have exhibited in quite some time. This is without doubt or question a film for the ages as it delivers a story about what it means to live, from the taste of a lollipop, to the feeling of wind upon or bodies, to a touch, taste, or smell, the feelings contained in memories, the connections forged with each other, and the sensation that only arrives in inspiration.
What is soul? For me, this time, it is the feeling derived as I watched every single moment of this elegant, extravagant film.
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