ALSO SHOWING
SOUL (PG)
★★★★★ JOE GARDNER (voiced by Jamie Foxx) is a part-time middle school teacher in New York City, who fervently believes that “music is life”.
He inherited a passion for jazz from his late father and hankers for creative enrichment as a full-time musician.
A former student called Curly (Questlove) secures Joe an audition to play piano in a quartet led by saxophonist Dorothea Williams (Angela Bassett).
On his way home from impressing Dorothea, Joe absent-mindedly tumbles down an open manhole and his soul separates from his body.
Joe’s essence refuses to travel into the light of The Great Beyond – “I have a gig tonight. I can’t die now!” – and tumbles into The Great Before, where fledgling souls develop personalities.
The gatecrasher agrees to mentor Soul 22 (Tina Fey) to chart a path back to his hospitalised body.
Soul is a wildly imaginative and deeply moving meditation on humanity from the computer animation wizards at Pixar, which tackles abstract concepts – mortality, depression, grief, alienation – with a playful sense of humour.
Soul riffs confidently to its own beat, employing bold visual flourishes to render Joe’s odyssey in strokes that can be appreciated on multiple levels.
The exquisitely beautiful picture reminds us to cherish everyday pleasures.
Streaming from December 25 on Disney+
WE CAN BE HEROES
(PG) WRITER-DIRECTOR Robert Rodriguez returns to the highstakes action of his 2005 caper The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl In 3-D with a standalone sequel, which passes the mantle to a new generation of pint-sized champions.
In the future, Earth is protected by The Heroics: a team of superheroes led by Marcus Moreno (Pedro Pascal) whose members include Miracle Guy (Boyd Holbrook), Tech-no (Christian Slater) and Ms Vox (Haley Reinhart).
Alien invaders capture The Heroics and issue a warning to the beleaguered US president (Christopher Mcdonald) that they intend to take over the planet. Ms Granada (Priyanka Chopra Jonas), director of The Heroics programme, gathers together the fallen superheroes’ children in an underground bunker for their safety.
The talented tykes are targeted by the aliens and Marcus Moreno’s self-doubting daughter Missy (Yaya Gosselin) leads the young fugitives as they seek a way to rescue their parents.
From December 25 on Netflix