Welcome to this week’s edition of the Nerd Review!  Every week the Nerds give you their take on a different classic from the Nerdosphere.  This week Dave and Patrick review the highly anticipated Pixar film Soul, released on Disney+!

The Flick:  Soul

What’s it About:  Joe finally gets the opportunity to realize his dream and become a Jazz pianist after a successful audition.  Unfortunately, as he is walking home to tell others, he inadvertently steps into an open manhole and falls to his death (almost).  As Joe’s soul begins to make its transition to the “Great Beyond”, Joe attempts to escape and finds himself in the “Great Before.” There, he inadvertently becomes a mentor to an unborn soul known as 22 who does not want to transition to life on Earth.

Metacritic Score: 83

The Nerds’ Take on Soul (2020):

Patrick:  Confession time, I am trying to write this review in the midst of following what I feel is the one of the saddest days in American History.  So, I apologize if my writing is a little disjointed.  That said, let’s get to it.  We covered this film a couple of weeks ago on Bandwagon Nerds and when asked to rate it on a scale of 1-10, I gave Soul a 9.8.  I may need to go back someday and look at my rating.  Maybe I was a little wrapped up in the moment, I’m not sure.  What I do know is the Soul is another winner for Pixar and is a damn near perfect film to lift your spirits during dark times.

Soul is the story of two souls: Joe Gardner and the unnamed 22.  Joe is an unhappy music teacher who believes his true purpose in life is to be a jazz musician.  Just when Joe finally thinks he has achieved his big break, he tragically falls down an open manhole and finds himself in a coma.  Joe’s soul begin to transition to what is described to him as the “Great Beyond”.  Joe, realizing this means he will have died before ever achieving his dream, escapes the path to the Great Beyond and lands in the “Great Before”.  The Great Before is a place where unborn souls develop their personalities prior to being born.  Joe pretends to be a mentor and is assigned to the aforementioned 22.  22 has long avoided the final step in developing their personality known as their spark which will result in 22 getting a pass to enter Earth.  Because they don’t want to go to Earth, 22 agrees to be mentored by Joe and when they get their pass, 22 will give it to Joe.  Of course, nothing goes according to plan and 22 and Joe learn more about living than they could have hoped.  Oh, and there is this whole thing where 22 inhabits Joe’s body…

I wish I could have written an even shorter summary as I really didn’t want to spoil too much of this film.  Even so, I don’t know that there was much I could write that would do this movie proper justice.  The film is one of self-discovery, questions of the afterlife, and recognizing the beauty of experiencing the world around us.  Joe’s entire worldview is challenged as he desperately tries to coach 22 on Earth in hi body.  Watching just take the world in forces Joe to reevaluate everything he thought he knew to be true.  And 22, by actually experiencing the world through Joe, comes to a better understanding of what it mean to be a part of it.  They make a symbiotic pair that together face and answer some huge existential questions.

The animation of Soul is nothing short of breathtaking.  From the serenity of the Great Before and Great After to one of the best representations of New York I have seen, it is all gorgeous.  But where Soul really shines is in the art of humans.  Some animated films can fall into the trap of making every non-lead characters all look rather cookie-cutterish and the same.  Not the case in Soul.  Everyone you see is a unique character all their own complete with their own look, body type, hair, etc..  One can get caught up in the finding all of the various unique details.  Hell, viewers can spend copious amounts time trying to decipher the back stories of background characters.

The voice cast I led by to greats: Jamie Foxx as Joe and Tina Fey as 22.  They play well off of one another and do a great job carrying the film.  The rest of the cast is nothing short of terrific.  My personal favorite is Moonwind voiced by Graham Norton.  Moonwind is a human who has learned how to transcend his mortal body through deep meditation (spinning a sign for a store on a street corner).  He’s brilliant.  I was also thrilled to hear the voice of the great Phylicia Rashad in the role of Joe’s loving, yet often disapproving, mother.  Other great actors like Angela Bassett and Questlove lend their talents.

Soul is such an uplifting film that tackles some pretty complex themes.  It examines the concept of a before and afterlife.  The movie challenged the notion of finding one’s purpose and puts a focus on finding joy in the world around us.  I’ve read other reviews that seem to think Soul is not for children, that the concept are too complex for kids.  That is nonsense in my opinion.  Sure, kids may have questions, but honestly Soul presents a real opportunity to engage in some meaningful, positive conversations about some terrific concepts.  I know I said I may go back and give this one a second look and change my rating, but today is not that day.  Soul is an instant Pixar classic and could go down as one of their best ever.

Patrick’s Rating: 4.92/5.0

Dave Soul is the 23^rd film from Disney-Pixar and, arguably, the biggest movie to be released at the tail end of 2020, along with Wonder Woman 1984. It is common knowledge by now that Disney-Pixar does not make bad movies and, more often than not, they make damn good to great movies. Surprising no one, Soul follows this template and delivers another very memorable Disney based experience.

Soul is a story about Joe Gardner, a middle-school music teacher by day who dreams of landing that one big gig that will put him on the map. He gets the opportunity to play in a jazz band headed up by the legendary Dorothea Williams. Joe impresses Dorothea enough to land the gig….and then proceeds to fall down an open manhole cover. Joe hovers near death and it is here that the movie goes in a starkly different direction as Joe refuses to accept his fate and is soon matched up with 22, an unborn soul that has never earned its path to Earth because it has never found its “spark” or, really, its purpose. 22 is as cynical as it can be and thinks an Earth-bound existence would be a terrible fate. Joe is assigned to 22 as its mentor to try and teach it what its purpose is. But Joe has an ulterior motive and is actually using 22 to try and get back to Earth and reunite with his body before it is too late and he dies. Joe and 22 learn a great deal about themselves with Joe realizing there is more to life than landing that one Jazz gig and 22 learning that there are certain aspects of Earth that are beautiful and enjoyable, no matter how simple or small they might appear.

Soul is very good. Let’s get that out of the way right off the bat. It is heartwarming, sweet, and very funny. There are important life lessons to be learned in the movie. Joe is voiced by Jamie Foxx and he is excellent in this role. Tina Fey voices 22 and she does a great job at demonstrating the wide range of emotions that 22 experiences as she runs the gamut of unique Earth experiences, even when 22 ends up in Joe’s body for a while, while Joe ends up in the body of a cat. The movie does a tremendous job of showing how not everything is as it seems and how you truly cannot judge a book by its cover. Joe’s journey from trying so hard to convince himself that his life would only matter if he accomplished his dream of a musical career to his ultimate realization that his life could not be defined so narrowly is presented in a way that is both engrossing and, on some level, relatable. The same can be said for 22 and how it comes to realize that despite numerous prior mentors failing to help it realize its purpose, its key to a meaningful existence was likely within itself all along.

It is not all great however. Soul is not going to be a movie that is easy for younger children to grasp. Make no mistake, it is dealing with some pretty heavy topics no matter how it is presented. Death, the after-life, the Great Beyond, the Great Before…these are all concepts that might not be as kid friendly as parents might like. This is something Disney-Pixar has done on occasion with other movies like Onward and Up, both of which were excellent as well but addressed more serious topics. There is nothing wrong with this, by the way. But for parents who consider Disney-Pixar to be synonymous with Toy Story, The Incredibles, or Finding Nemo, they might find Soul to be a bit of a sharp departure from those movies.

For teens and adults though, Soul will likely resonate quite a bit with them. It is one of the only movies I can recall that deals with the concept of unborn souls, where they come from, why some individuals are, for instance insecure, and why some people just seem to be naturally good at certain things, or even a prodigy. This unique take on death, birth, the after-life and everything in between is fresh and different and it makes Soul stand out from just about any other movie like it. Disney-Pixar hit another home run with Soul and it is another movie I can whole-heartedly recommend for your viewing pleasure.

Dave’s Rating: 4.0/5

Overall Nerds’ Rating for Soul (2020): 4.46/5.0