Past, Present, Future: Soul Review
Have you ever wondered where the many different qualities and personalities among people come from? Is it already predetermined before you’re born or do your parents help form your personality for you?
Well, Pete Docter’s Soul takes a creative approach to this concept, shining light on how exactly every human comes to be, along with how and why we should cherish what we have in life and not take life for granted. The movie opens with all-time lover of jazz, Joe Gardner (voiced by Jamie Foxx), a middle school band teacher who had finally been offered and succeeded at an audition for the chance of a lifetime: being able to play side-by-side with jazz legend Dorothea Williams (voiced by Angela Bassett) at one of the best jazz clubs in town, the Half Note. Joe finally landed his big break after many years and was extremely excited—a little too excited. Making one misstep with overwhelming excitement, Joe is immediately taken from the streets of his home in the city to The Great Beyond. He finds himself on a conveyor belt in this dark zone, stretching into pure oblivion. Joe also finds that he doesn’t look like his regular human self, but is in the form of a little blueish-white ghost figure, known as his soul. He encounters other late souls, ready to finally accept their fate—but Joe is very aware and even more so unsatisfied.
Attempting to escape the end that seems near, Joe falls into deep nothingness off of the conveyor belt, plunging through countless different dimensions until he finds himself in a new, brightly-colored, fantastical zone called the Great Before. In this other alternate dimension, young and friendly souls are trained and get their qualities and personalities before being sent to Earth, born into a new body. Joe learns from the Soul Guides occupying this dimension that new souls must discover their “spark” to be allowed on Earth (with the help from older soul mentors at the “You Seminar”). Joe is very determined to get back to his body on Earth in time to make his big break, but is mistaken as one of the mentors and is assigned a new, quite stubborn soul, Number 22 (voiced by Tina Fey). 22 enjoys having been in the Great Before for a very long time, passing through famous mentors (all of whom had failed to find 22 her spark). Joe and 22 eventually team up to find and achieve what they both want. Joe needs to help 22 find her spark and see the purpose and benefits of living, in order to make his performance at the jazz club with Dorothea Williams in time. The two somehow find a loophole to get back on Earth together and continue to discover and find out the deeper meaning of life itself.
Soul is so creatively crafted and blended to form a beautiful aspect in which we can view the world and what we have around us. Not only is it filled with fun plot twists, big risks, significant realizations, and key life lessons, but there is a strong breakthrough in representation, displaying great amounts of diversity. The film portrays the jazz culture quite accurately and depicts people of all races and religions throughout. Joe Gardner himself, one of the dominant and main components of the movie’s characters, is a Black man. Pixar truly succeeds in presenting diversity in this film of theirs than ever before.
Without a doubt, Soul is guaranteed to make you feel good—no matter how old you are. It provides all viewers with a clearer picture and understanding of the true “real world,” connecting them with the meaningful relationships and stories that carry throughout the entirety of the powerful film. Its take on how people obtain their personalities and how life can be taken from us in a matter of seconds will surely have an impact on you—it certainly did on me. Soul helped open my eyes to how we should live every day of our lives (or at least try to), by loving and cherishing those around us, as well as being grateful for whatever we have while we live in the present time.
