I liked Onward a lot. Especially it’s highway action sequence. But Onward was just an action adventure. Soul, I think, is trying to be so much more. At least, I felt that it succeeded fabulously at being so much more, but obviously it didn’t connect with everyone on that level. I don’t think any movie can connect with all its viewers like that. But here’s a movie that tries, (and succeeds, for me!) and that puts it way above something like Onward.
I wouldn’t say ‘just’ action adventure. The relationship between Ian and Barley is the core of it, and there is a few big character growth moments at the end.
That’s a good point. I guess it was trying for something more, and failed in my eyes. But maybe it connected with others.
It really worked wonderfully together, didn’t it? I wouldn’t have expected that either. But the John Baptiste portions in particular were surprisingly moving to me throughout the movie. I’m not really a Jazz person. I love listening to Jazz in person every time, but when I try to listen to it pre-recorded, it just loses that magic. But in this movie, they captured it somehow.
Onward was about the importance of Dads (and/or big brothers). My Dad died young and I was the big brother to my sister and brother who were 13 & 11 when he passed (I was 21).
My sons who now have kids of their own called me after seeing this movie and thanked me for being their dad. Doesn’t get better than that.
It is funny because I was never planning on watching it until they called.
I think Onward did a great job in giving us a fun little adventure while showcasing that imperfection and loss does not always mean the absence of everything we think it does.
Soul’s a beautiful and great movie, and it’s not exactly like the others; no I am not referring to just the music.
Its great because it pretends to be a buddy adventure for most of the run, while actually laying the groundwork for the big moment at the end. The checklist visibly representing that, and the realization at the end, only work because they had done the work earlier in the film in a very organic way.
A lesser film would have used the humor moments to simply get a laugh or have a visual gag. This incorporated them into the core of the story in a way I didn’t see coming initially.
It’s one of those little gems I wish I had seen in theater, but the trailers led me to believe it was less than it was. I usually get around to all the Disney movies, and only a few truly disappoint. It was just they did as you said, sprinkled this message throughout the whole thing and then boom, it works, not just because they’re telling us it’s supposed to work but it does. Because of the adventure piece, it’s still fun to watch too.
It might not have the Epic story telling and musical pieces that Frozen has, but it’s right up there with the sibling bonding stuff.
Decent argument that the Toy Story movies are the same, in the broad strokes. A cadre of human-like non-humans with a human-adjacent prime motive, in that case to bring happiness to children. When Andy isn’t there, the toys are very business-like about how to properly set things up to maximize his enjoyment.
As a Jazz fan, it was super cool to see the music highlighted and awesome to see Angela Bassett play the role of a famous (in context of the movie) tenor Sax playing band leader. Doubly so, because there aren’t many examples of black Sax-playing women band leaders. I’ve seen the terrific Melissa Aldano live, at a small NYC club, a Latinx woman, who follows in the footsteps of my main sax dude Sonny Rollins, but Dorothea Williams was a great role to see embodied by Bassett in Soul.
I love Tina Fey, but admit it was a bit odd to hear her middle aged white lady voicing Joe. I wouldn’t have minded more Jamie Fox and less Tina Fey, at least in this particular movie, but overall, I greatly enjoyed Soul, and was happy to watch it w/ my kids.
I just finished watching it with my wife. I absolutely loved it. I think it may be the new pinnacle for Pixar animation. It was just gorgeous, and smooth, and it took my breath away. They take you right to the edge of the uncanny valley but never beyond into it.
I loved the acting, the story, the music, the deeper message, the feels. All of it. I could not disagree more heartily with @JoshL who called this a b-tier Pixar movie. It surpasses both Up and Inside Out in my mind, which I used to consider their best work.
I cannot wait to watch it again. And I’m a bit sad that this didn’t get the theatrical release and recognition that it deserved because of the pandemic.
I’ve been listening to the soundtrack while I work today. It’s every bit as fantastic as it was in the movie. The Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross stuff is a lot more brooding than I remember hearing in the movie. But then some of these pieces really soar. The Batiste stuff sounds great, too. I’m not the kind of person who regularly has the patience to sit down with a movie score or a jazz album, but the switching back and forth between the styles keeps me interested before everything starts sounding the same. My only complaint is that the tracks are on the short side and sometimes don’t have enough time to build up.
It’s the best movie score I’ve heard in a long time, and honestly could end up being an all-time great for me.
Soul, Up, and Inside Out are all by this dude at Pixar:
I guess I need to keep my eye out for his work.
Which explains why those who have actually seen the movie seem more prone to equate it to Up and Inside Out and those who have not keep mentioning Coco.
It’s a different feel entirely.
True, the street shots where humans weren’t being shown were damned near photorealistic.
I liked this a lot. Very hopeful and melancholy in parts. It looked gorgeous and the music choices were great. I also liked seeing a majority of the speaking humans as POC. Nice!
We watched this last night and it was indeed mostly not at all like Coco. I thought the way it eventually landed on the whole “follow your dreams” thing was pretty refreshing, and it definitely didn’t end the way I expected, although the ending was a little…ephemeral? Laughed quite a few times.
It was kind of a two parter to right? It wasn’t just follow your dreams but that whole piece about now that he had his moment, he has his dream… what was next again, oh yeah, his dream became job.
Lots of life messages in there, about the experience of life, the beauty of it, the struggle… and what is great about Soul is if you don’t believe or even catch all those messages, that’s still okay. Most the young kids won’t, but they might still be entertained, exposed to some great music and one day, they will.
Plus the meowing cat soul, which despite being on screen for a grand total of one and a half seconds has been turned into at least three pieces of official merchandise.
I already have some hunks of plastic due to Baby Yoda. If I add Mr. Mittens, when will it stop?