Soul

Joe is a middle-school band teacher whose life hasn’t quite gone the way he expected. His true passion is jazz — and he’s good. But when he travels to another realm to help someone find their passion, he soon discovers what it means to have soul.

So guess what? I was given Disney+ for Christmas for the next six months! So yes, you can expect more movie reviews in the future – at least for Disney things. We celebrated this gift by watching Soul, the latest movie from Pixar. And it was phenomenal.

It features Joe, whose life hasn’t gone exactly the way he planned. He is a middle-school band teacher, but has a passion for Jazz. One day he gets a big break, but then accidentally dies. Not accepting the afterlife, Joe ends up where souls who haven’t gone to Earth yet reside, and he is tasked with helping a reluctant soul, 22, complete her last task before she can go to Earth.

And I really can’t say much more about the plot without spoiling it, except to say that the ending is perfect.

This is a movie about identity, and souls, and purpose. About change and new phases of life and what life is really about. The Jazz music is amazing, and different art styles are used very effectively to indicate different realms and characters.

In short, Pixar has another true masterpiece on its hands. If you haven’t watched it yet, you need to. If you don’t usually watch animated movies, you still need to watch this. Kids will enjoy it, while adults will find great meaning in it. For those of you who don’t have Disney+, hopefully it will be out in other formats and platforms soon.