What a pisser that I didn’t get to see this for the first time at Alamo Drafthouse for Soul was definitely an event movie and I can only imagine them having some original snipe before the main attraction. Oh, of course the short preceding which was traditionally Pixar hinting at what they were going to do next. Due to work on Christmas Day, I also didn’t get to see this until Boxing Day.
We all know the premise thanks to the constant plugs and Vonnegut-level of advertising reminding us, hey, did you know this will be on Disney+ on Christmas Day along with WW84? Too bad CV-19 didn’t mortally wound the advertising and marketing industries to the point of extinction.
As for the movie, this is when Pixar is firing on all gears and makes a kick-ass film on par with Toy Story, Inside/Out or WALL-E. They took a solid premise, hired the best voices for the characters (not the other way around as per Dreamworks) and executed a story which caters to intelligent people. The Wal-Mart/Cars crowd can kiss my ass, they have all their Fast and Furious bullshit to watch. The best part of all? They kept the plot twists out of the ad campaign so when it happens, it’s a true surprise. Imagine how lame The Matrix would’ve been if there were commercials pre-explaining the red/blue pill jazz. My personal favorite part is how the before-life period is an inverted vision of Albert Brooks’ after-life way station from Defending Your Life.
I’m not going to weigh in on the nonsense about Soul not being “Black” enough or it caters too much to Whitey; newsflash to the whiner from The Root, if there’s excessive catering, it’s to appease the autocratic Chinese market. The Pixar team worked hard by doing their homework on making a movie worth watching multiple times and will age better than half of Hollywood’s recent output.
Final Rating: On a scale of Pixar, DDA (Divorced-Dad Activity) or Animated Turd. Soul is obviously Pixar.