Director: Pete Docter, Kemp Powers
Distributor: Disney
Duration: 100 minutes
Soul (DVD) – Movie Review
Even though Soul has gotten its fair share of attention, it has not really reached the same audience as many other Disney productions did before the pandemic hit the world. The movie was solely released on Disney+, thus making it somewhat ‘harder to reach many people around the world. This is because there are still many Disney fans who do not like adding another paid streaming platform to their already high monthly costs. Luckily after a few months of waiting, the movie has now also been released on DVD and Blu-ray. We were given the DVD version of Soul just to see how much soul it actually has. Needless to say, we were moved by this original story.
In Soul, we get to meet Joe (Jamie Foxx), a music teacher who still has great ambitions to become a world-renowned jazz musician. When he felt like he finally had no more options other than taking the offer of becoming a permanent music teacher, Joe suddenly gets offered a chance that might put him in the spotlight at long last. Being over the moon, he does everything to take this opportunity and his overall joy and happiness cost him dearly. Joe ends up falling in an uncovered manhole, only to awaken as a spirit-like entity heading towards The Great Beyond. Not willing to go down without a fight, he breaks free from the conveyor belt leading towards the light and soon finds him in the exact opposite, The Great Before, which allows new souls to get their personalities, as well as their ‘spark’ to prepare them for their earthly lives. When Joe gets mistaken as a mentor and gets paired with a soul who doesn’t want to go the Earth, they come up with a scheme. Together with 22 (Tina Fey), Joe wants to cheat the system and get a retry back on Earth.
The flow is somewhat what you’d expect from a Disney film. At first, you’ll get to know the main character of the adventure, to learn some intricacies that are unique to this individual, to then be presented with a big problem or obstacle to overcome. In this scenario, it’s all about Joe’s untimely demise and his eagerness and determination to go back to the world of the living; Earth. The movie does push all the right buttons and makes us emotional when required, but it also makes us laugh; a lot. The movie does find a proper balance between making this a very emotional tale, but also a light-hearted story about life, and the daily struggle of many human beings. We will not be resulting to spoilers, but an important message the movie tries to tell is that we are all unique, we all have something driving us forward, and we just need to find that ‘spark’ to keep us going.
Even though Soul has an impressive list of cast members, the main course in this film is presented by Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey. The duo has great chemistry and this is noticeable in their dialogues. Both have very pleasant voices to listen to, in all types of scenarios. Jamie Foxx has always been a talented man, he now also proves he has more up his sleeves with his role in Soul. Tina Fey also handles her role with a lot of grace and conviction. We loved how she was also able to properly convey a lot of different moods throughout this amusing but emotional rollercoaster.
The DVD edition of Soul sadly comes with no special features outside of a standard commentary and a sneak peek at another Pixar project. We understand that the movie was first released on Disney+ and the pandemic must have prevented the creation of many special features, it would have still been nice to have something extra for this film. Don’t get us wrong, this film is amazing on its own, but to warrant buying a physical copy, a bit more would have been appreciated.
Conclusion
Soul truly has that ‘Disney’ feel from start to finish, without having to involve a new type of princess or even a catchy song for that matter. We loved the message the movie is conveying, as well as the animations and the characters that pass the revue. We loved the movie from start to finish, and it just hit all the right notes. We would have liked to see some proper special features on a physical edition, but even so, if you don’t own Disney+, this movie is well worth the investment.
Soul (DVD) - Movie Review,
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