22 and Joe
The Pixar-animated musical feature Soul has received mostly positive reviews from critics. The film concerns Joe, a middle-school band teacher who gets the chance to play at the best jazz club in town, but a misstep takes him from the streets of New York to the Great Before, where new souls get their personalities before they go to Earth. Determined to return to life, Joe teams with a precocious soul, 22, who doesn’t understand the appeal of being human. As Joe tries to show 22 what’s great about living, he explores life’s most important questions.
The creative team includes Kemp Powers and Pete Docter (direction, screenplay), Mike Jones (screenplay), Jon Batiste (music, arrangements), Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (music), Matt Aspbury and Ian Megibben (cinematography), Kevin Nolting (editing), Steve Pilcher (production design), and Paul Avadilla (art direction). The cast includes Jamie Foxx (Joe), Tina Fey (22), Questlove (Curly), Phylicia Rashad (Libba), Daveed Diggs (Paul), Angela Bassett (Dorothea Williams), Graham Norton (Moonwind), Rachel House (Terry), Richard Ayoade (Jerry), Alice Braga (Jerry), and Wes Studi (Jerry). The film will begin streaming Dec. 25 on Disney+.
New Statesman (Ryan Gilbey): Most of the script’s ideas are recycled … but Soul has its own visual elegance, and an appealing line in pet-based humor. I’ll treasure the image of the sprawling feline cat-spreading in its subway seat more than I will the “life’s what you make it” message, or the vocal contributions of Graham Norton and Richard Ayoade, which introduce notes of smugness into the Pixar soundscape.
New York Post (Johnny Oleksinski): 3.5 of 4 stars. Why artists keep pounding the pavement despite never finding commercial success is a meaty topic. So is a reluctant teacher coming to realize that encouraging talent is his natural gift — one that few people have. Many adults will surely contemplate their own lives … and, for the littlest viewers, there are fun, happy blobs.
Observer (Brandon Katz): 3 of 4 stars. Soul … is the next chapter in Pixar’s journey, a whimsical and poignant metaphor for why we’re all here in the first place. Like Coco, Soul asks its young audience to confront the real issue of our own mortality. … Soul may not coalesce quite as cleanly as some of its predecessors … but its big-hearted warmth and mature focus feel at once both new and familiar.
Roger Ebert (Matt Zoller Seitz ): 3 of 4 stars. Pixar has never released a flat-out bad film. And this is a good one: pleasant and clever, with a generous heart, committed voice acting, and some of the kookiest images in Pixar history. … It’s the most unapologetically Black Pixar project yet released. … This distinction gives weight to lines that might not have registered in a Pixar film with white protagonists.
Slate (Dan Kois): It’s in the movie’s most personal and specific storytelling beats — its interaction with Black culture —that Soul delivers more potent storytelling. … It’s packed with great jokes … and great music. … Like every Pixar movie, it’s entertaining, sharp, and visually inventive. But it lacks the thunderbolts of creativity that make the company’s best philosophical inquiries so electrifying. It never quite finds its spark.
Vanity Fair (Sonya Saraiya): The film manages to be heartwarming and thoughtful about aging and mortality regardless, moving Joe’s character away from his single-minded pursuit and toward a more holistic idea of what he’s accomplished in his life. … Despite some distraction and not quite enough music, Soul manages to tap into deep emotion as its characters explore the limits of mortality and what it means to be passionate about life.