399. Soul; movie review

 

 

SOUL

Cert PG

97 mins

BBFC advice: Contains mild bad language, fantasy threat

Christmas Day and a brand new animation from Disney Pixar. How exciting!

Sadly, not. Thirty minutes into Pete Docter and Kemp Powers' movie and three of our four festive family members were asleep.

Thankfully, because the film is on Disney Plus, rather than in the cinema, we were able to spin back the minutes which we had missed.

Unfortunately, that didn't inspire us to enjoy it any more or understand how children would have been attracted to its story.

Soul's focus is a part-time schoolteacher (voiced by Jamie Foxx) whose life ambition is to be a successful jazz musician.

He is just about to give up when he is offered the chance to play in the band of one of his heroines (Angela Bassett).

However, on the afternoon before the performance, he falls down a manhole and the next thing we know his spirit is ascending the steps to heaven.

Understandably, Joe's soul is rather distressed about this turn of events and tries to persuade the celestial authorities that he isn't ready to meet his maker.

They seem unwilling to listen but he persists and becomes engaged with a cynical young soul (Tina Fey).

Their interaction results in a mix-up which sparks most of the movie's attempts at humour (it only prompted one titter from me and none from Mrs W, Miss W or Miss W's fiance).

Indeed, we were surprised at the lack of merriment we felt watching a movie seen as such as Disney/Pixar flagship that it should be launched on their new TV station on Christmas Day.

But what do we know? After all, Soul has lauded by scores of critics and is even being mentioned as an Oscar contender.

I couldn't understand the fuss. It isn't a terrible film but it doesn't grab. In fact, I would have been happy just to listen to the lush soundtrack.

Reasons to watch: Great jazz score

Reasons to avoid: Not very exciting

Laughs: One titter

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 6/10

Did you know? Soul was originally scheduled for theatrical release in the United States on June 19, 2020 but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was delayed to November 20, 2020. This slot replaced Disney Animation's film Raya and the Last Dragon, whose release was delayed to March 5, 2021. It was then decided to release it on Disney+ on Christmas Day.

The final word. Pete Docter: "I wanted to take people on this artist's journey of finding a character that we could root for and that we’d find compelling and interesting. We played around, for a little while, with an actor or a scientist, but as soon as we found a jazz musician, that felt very selfless. You don’t go into jazz to get rich and famous. You do it because you love it and you have a passion for it, and it’s fascinating to watch. " Collider

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