Something old, something blue
Pixar’s lovable latest, “Soul,” tackles human personalities.
And have they ever mastered the formula to sell their far-out films: Take complex psychological concepts and let adorable animated blobs simplify them. No one has ever raged against cutesplaining. You gotta be evil not to like these characters.
Our sweet little guides this time around are pale-blue souls, who occupy the so-called Great Before, a training camp for babiesto-be.
Joe (voiced by Jamie Foxx), a New York music teacher, first meets them after he falls into a manhole and floats up to heaven, or the Great Beyond. Not ready to die, he hops off the escalator and lands with the tiny future humans.
But Joe is desperate to get back to NYC because the day he fell, the musician was set to finally make his big break playing piano in a Greenwich Village basement jazz club. Tonight is his one shot.
How can he game the system and reclaim his body? By mentoring a soul, an unmotivated slacker named 22 (Tina Fey), and snatching her Earth pass once she finds her “spark.”
The funny, touching “Soul” amounts to more than technical wizardry and smart dialogue. Why artists keep pounding the pavement despite never finding commercial success is a meaty topic. So is a reluctant teacher coming to realize that encouraging talent is his natural gift. Many adults will surely contemplate their own lives — and choices — as they watch this one from the couch.
And, for the littlest viewers, there are fun, happy blobs.
Running time: 100 minutes. Rated PG (thematic elements and some language.) On Disney+ Friday.
— Johnny Oleksinski