Disney Pixar has gifted its audience a present for Christmas in the form of Pixar's Soul; in return, they're expecting you to subscribe to Disney+, with the 23rd film from the animation studio bypassing a theatrical release for an exclusive debut on their streaming service as a result of the pandemic. Speared by Pete Docter, arguably the most acclaimed visionary in their ranks, Soul hopes to connect with audiences across the globe this festive season.
When middle school teacher gets into an accident that separates his soul from his body, he is transported to the "Great Beyond", a centre where souls develop and gain passions before their life on earth. In order to return to Earth, he must enlist the help of other souls-in-training. Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey lead the voice cast that also features Phylicia Rashad, Daveed Diggs and Angela Bassett.
Never a studio to shy away from larger philosophical themes, Soul contemplates the purpose of life, ambition and self-fulfilment in what, on paper at least, is one of their most complex creations to date. Docter, who co-writers alongside Kemp Powers and Mike Jones, tackles these lofty metaphysical ideas with his typical enthusiasm, eager to strike a balance between engaging a younger audience while giving older audiences something to recognised and be moved by. However, despite the compelling ideas and thoughtful musings, there's something disappointingly familiar about Soul: ideas recycled from the likes of Inside Out, Up and Coco, it essentially plays like a 'best of' Pixar that lacks the emotional highs and imagination that made those films so special. While there is a raw, powerful simplicity to those films, the abstract elements never fully convince and are unlikely to enrapture audiences as superior, enduring Pixar efforts have.
Always reliable for their quality standard of animation, Soul is no different, with a beautifully-detailed, precisely-rendered, almost ethereal visual leading to captivating viewing. Many films during the pandemic have perhaps lost their potency by debuting on the smaller screen, and while a cinema would always be my preferred way to consume almost any film, Soul is still as visually attractive - its technical brilliance rarely diluted by watching at home. On the sonic side, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross provide a tremendous score and soundtrack, infusing the jazz elements found throughout the story, ensuring it is packed with personality and enriching of the overall experience. With a typically starry voice cast, Pixar is still attracting the big names to help bring their tales to life. Although the characters aren't as memorable, Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey lead the way with lively, personable voice performances. UK icon Graham Norton is a delightful surprise, too.
In its own right, Soul is a decent Pixar film, as stunningly animated as we have come to expect from the studio, driven by big, metaphorical ideas and accompanied by a strong score. But we've reached a stage now where the ideas no longer feel inventive, and the execution no longer fresh: four of the five past original Pixar films have all been contained in a race-against-time narrative that feels repetitive and prevents a full realisation of its thematic ambition. Compounded by a lack of memorable characters and comparative redundance of emotional highs, Disney Pixar's wider issues manifest in Soul and lead to a perfectly fine but ultimately underwhelming effort that firmly places Pixar in a past-their-peak era.
Summary: While beautifully animated and enjoyable enough, Disney Pixar's Soul sees an ambitious idea trapped recycling previously-explored themes in a tired narrative structure that disappointingly dilutes its power.