Soul is advertised and packaged as the new Disney Pixar kid’s film. However, it is in fact a film tailored for adults. Soul is about Joe Gardner who has a very strong passion for music, on the cusp of his lifelong ambition he is transported out of his body and must find a way back. Soul contains some of the best animation Pixar has ever done. Seeing The different animation styles varying from hyper detailed humans, to more cartoony looking souls to abstract line drawings it’s all just beautiful and a visual treat to the eyes. Seeing Joe play the piano in one scene is jaw dropping as it looks so real. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (of Nine Inch Nails) is incredible and is really effective in certain scenes.
However, Soul wants to have its cake and eat it when it comes to its story. The story wants to be a deep and thought-provoking film that touches adult themes, but it also wants to be a simplistic kid’s film. This clashing of ideas leads to the film being painfully predictable from the beginning and instead of exploring the more interesting aspects, it focusses on the more childlike aspects which I found to be cringeworthy. While overall I did enjoy Soul, I don’t think it was the masterpiece other people were saying it was. People should watch this film though while I think it’s just good, other people might be really moved and effected by this film.
