After numerous delays, Disney announced that they would be releasing the Pixar movie, Soul, exclusively on Disney+ on December 25, 2020. A new Pixar movie is always a big deal for me. I have found almost all of their movies (with the exception of Cars 2) to be great pieces of film, with Monsters Inc. and Finding Nemo being some of my all-time favorite movies. After opening all of my presents on Christmas Day, I sat down and finally watched the movie I had been anticipating all year… and thankfully, it was great. (This review will contain some spoilers about the plot of Soul).

The plot of Soul is very simple. A New York City music teacher named Joe Gardner (played by Jamie Foxx) is about to land a gig playing for a successful jazz band in the city. As he is on his way back to his apartment, luck is not actually on his side, as he falls down a manhole and enters the world of The Great Beyond. Joe frantically panics, trying to figure out where he is and how he can get back to Earth. Getting the assistance of souls in The Great Beyond, Joe gets teamed up with a rowdy, mischievous soul named 22 (played by Tina Fey), and together they are able to go back to Earth. There is just one problem, however. Once Joe and 22 get back to Earth, Joe’s soul has landed in a therapy cat, and 22 has landed in Joe’s body.

I will not really go into any more detail about the plot of the movie, and there will be no further spoilers after this point. The story gets very interesting once Joe and 22 come back to Earth. There is a lot of comedic potential for having a person who can speak and attempt to perform human actions in the body of a cat. In fact, this movie is one of the funnier Pixar movies out there; I distinctly remember laughing numerous times throughout it, as it has more of a lighter tone, (which is ironic considering it deals with death).

Each Pixar movie keeps demonstrating how far animation has come, and Soul is no different. Joe’s whole body: his shirt, pants, and even his skin looked so realistic that I could not believe that a person had animated it. The scenes of the city also were very impressive, containing such minor details as the faded paint on the subway or the advertisements on taxis or trucks. Pixar is known for its sublime animation, and this movie does not disappoint. 

Soul’s music was outstanding as well. It was often jazzy, which made sense as the whole movie’s plot was based around Joe never getting to go to his jazz performance. The music helped add to the whole atmosphere and made some scenes even better.

While the movie itself was very good, it did have a few flaws. I felt that the ending of the movie was too inconclusive. Without spoiling the main parts of it, I believe that Soul’s ending was not entirely perfect, and it felt me wanting more. I was hoping there would be a couple of extra post-credits scenes (similar to Marvel movies, or even a few Pixar movies too), but there were not. Perhaps the point of the ending was to leave it open, and up to interpretation.

Ultimately, Pixar’s Soul was a phenomenal movie and one of their best to date. It also adds another reason to buy or watch Disney+, as it was lacking in exclusive content up until the latter half of 2020. The writing, animation, voice acting, music, humor all combined, make it very enjoyable and entertaining for souls of all ages.