Review of Soul Disney Pixar movie
The Soul disney pixar movie stood out to me because of its predominantly black characters and emotionally powerful story. I love the Soul Disney Pixar movie for it's profound themes, humor, memorable characters, list goes on. This review will have spoilers.
Story:
The Soul Disney Pixar movie is about Joe Gardner, a middle school band teacher who's life doesn't go as planned. He's passionate about Jazz but when he travels to another realm and helps another being find its passion - he learns the meaning of soul.
I loved how the Soul Disney Pixar movie portrayed blacks realistically in regards to their mannerisms, culture, speech, etc.
I loved how Joe hated Jazz at first until his father took him to a Jazz club and Joe falls in love with Jazz after hearing it.
I loved the character development in the Soul Disney Pixar movie. Joe was selfish and didn't care about the spiritual realm he was in. Eventually he realizes life is more than just your career. 22 originally doesn't want to live on earth because it's worthless in her mind. Joe could've been a lost soul had he continued in his selfish ways and stayed disconnected from life. 22 doesn't see the purpose of life which is why she refuses to go to earth.
The animation of lost souls disturbed me especially when Joe saw 22 in the body of the lost soul and heard her insecurities.
I loved the ambiguity of the ending in the Soul Disney Pixar movie. We don't know which body Joe Gardner and 22 end up in.
Scenes:
I'll analyze my favorite scenes from the Soul Disney Pixar movie. We're introduced to Joe Gardner doing band practice with his students in a classroom that's poorly funded. First of all, I love how accurate this scene is. When I was in elementary school, kids dressed and behaved as shown in the the Soul Disney Pixar movie. They were fooling around and not taking music seriously. Joe dislikes this judging from his cringe but tries to instill his passion for Jazz in his students despite the situation he's in. The girl (Connie) plays the trombone with passion. When she stands up, we can see she's the only one who took music seriously. Nevertheless, she loses confidence when the class makes fun of her. She doubts herself when she points out she's 12 years old. The school is poorly funded probably because of institutional racism against blacks and society doesn't take music seriously in school. I loved the sense of humor in this scene. Joe's work seems to pay off when he plays the piano in front of the kids and they simply watch in amazement.
Soul started with a strong opening because we not only learn Joe is passionate about Jazz that he doesn't care about money, he also wants to inspire others to be like him. I love how Soul reveals to us who the characters are through body language. When Joe looks at a picture of Dorthea Williams in the classroom and presumably his favorite Jazz musicians, we learn he idolizes them.
Joe's flaws are revealed early in the Soul Disney Pixar movie. He's selfish. For example, when he tells his story to Connie - he doesn't stop and think if she can relate. Another flaw is he's not completely honest about his feelings towards others. This is shown when he tells the school principal "you're doing my ears a favor." His student gets offended and Joe says "not you! You're good!" but secretly tells the principal he's not.
When he talks with his mother, we can see what kind of person she is. She doesn't completely support him. It seems she only loves him for who she wants him to be. When his old friend, Curly, calls Joe - we see Joe is humble.
When Joe rehearses with Dorthea Williams and the rest of the band, we can see Dorthea is not impressed at first. This is probably because of so many musicians who failed to meet her standards as a pianist. This also suggests performing on stage with Dorthea Williams isn't what Joe is expecting. Joe can't see it because he's blinded by a fantasy and idol worship of her. This will play a bigger part later in the film. Joe plays the piano and gets into "the zone." This is likely when he somehow opens a connection with the soul realm later in the Soul Disney Pixar movie.
When Joe's so excited that he finally got the job, he carelessly moves around and nearly gets in accidents. From this scene, we can see Joe's weakness. He cares too much about his career that he doesn't care much about his wellbeing. He believes life's purpose rests on your actions, namely his dream career.
In the scene where 22 in Joe's body tutors Connie was powerful. Connie is on the verge of quitting. We can probably infer Connie has been trying hard to practice playing the trombone but couldn't meet her own expectations. When 22 sees Connie play the trombone, 22 understands Connie loves music although 22 can't empathize with her. Connie realizes she loves music too much to quit.
I loved the barber scene where Joe Gardner had a talk with the barber about something other than music. It really showed Joe's flawed view of life. Joe was too busy focusing on his passion, he forgot about connecting with others.
The scene where Joe Gardner argues with his mother was powerful. We learn Libba has never supported Joe's dream career because she didn't want him to struggle like his father. She eventually supports him.
The ocean scene was also quite impactful. Joe should've been happy he finally got the dream career he wanted but he wasn't. He was expecting more. Dorthea Williams told him the story of a fish to basically tell Joe he had unrealistic expectations.
The scene where Joe realizes life is about living and his connections with others. He realizes life is much greater than having the ideal career. Throughout most of the Soul Disney Pixar movie, he was selfish and thought of only himself. He was insecure about his ability to achieve his ideal career.
There's a deleted scene where Joe goes into his dream and debates whether to go back to his body or not. This gave the Soul Disney Pixar movie a somewhat sadder tone.
In another deleted scene, 22 admitted to Joe she wanted to go to earth but regretted it because it was a lonely place. She wasn't wrong. I think the Soul Disney Pixar movie depicted that well. If this scene was kept, it would've given the Soul Disney Pixar movie a darker tone.
Dialogue:
The dialogue felt very natural and humorous. I loved how the Soul Disney Pixar movie's dialogue stood out from other movies. Ever since 22 manifested itself in Joe's body and Joe in a cat's body, they have to work together to speak for each other.
Cinematography:
I loved the cinematography. The beautiful camera shots of vast amazing landscapes show how life is larger than Joe Gardner.
Animation:
The Soul Disney Pixar movie's animation was breathtaking and amazing! It looked so realistic! The soul world looked phenomenal! I didn't expect that kind of animation. I loved the "living line" animation.
The animation in the Soul Disney Pixar movie helped the storytelling in a dramatic way. For example, when Joe goes in the zone at the beginning of Soul - the color change beautifully shows Joe's disconnection from reality in his trance state. In the scene where Dorthea tells him the story of the fish - the light goes out after she leaves. He's left in the darkness to ponder her words. The darkness symbolises Joe's ignorance of life. The light goes out as if his world is telling him getting his dream job won't change the poverty and disconnection around him.
Soundtrack:
I loved how the Soul Disney Pixar movie blends Jazz with ambient music in the soul world which sounded so calming. It sounded like the music you would play to help with meditation. It was ethereal, supernatural, and electrifying.
Themes:
I loved the overall theme of life being more than just your passions. We live in a toxic culture where your life's purpose is determined by your contributions to society. Your real purpose is to simply exist. Life is about experiencing everything - good, bad, pain, pleasure, etc. Your connections with others and yourself are what ultimately matter. There's a huge danger in turning passion into an obsession and becoming disconnected from life. This is the concept behind the lost souls.
We should teach people to simply live rather than try to justify our existence on this Earth when such justifications aren't necessary. We're already born with purpose and value.
Characters:
Joe Gardner - I love Joe because he's a well developed and has a great personality.
Connie - While she's a supporting character, she has a huge impact on Joe.
Curly - He's a side character who loves Jazz and Joe Gardner.
I loved almost all of the characters because they're relatable.
Acting:
The voice actors did an amazing job. Every voice actor sounded so natural. I felt they really wanted to be in the movie and not just because they were getting paid to.
Flaws:
While I loved the Soul Disney Pixar movie, I thought the movie did have some serious flaws.
The first major flaw was its subtle form of racism against blacks. While the Soul Disney Pixar movie had black characters, we didn't get to explore their world as much as we did the soul world. Furthermore, Joe Gardner wasn't in his body for most of the film. It was technically a white character. Meanwhile, Joe was stuck in the body of a cat. This sends the message it's not ok to be blacks, blacks are animals, and ignorant. I wasn't expecting the concept of souls to be featured in the Soul Disney Pixar movie. I was hoping to watch a movie with a story about black characters with a powerful message on Jazz all the way through. Unfortunately, I didn't get that.
The second major flaw with the Soul Disney Pixar movie was the ending. Personally, I felt like Joe Gardner should've gone to the great beyond after trading his place with 22. I loved how he realizes his spark wasn't his purpose. It was his act of living and giving life to others such as 22. He gives up his Earth pass, gives it to 22, and explains he's already lived on Earth. The story is naturally flowing in the direction of him going to the great beyond until Terry decides to give him another chance. The natural flow stops and after that, his choice to return to Earth feels forced for the sake of fan service. I feel the Soul Disney Pixar movie could've been more powerful if Joe Gardner went to the great beyond, we would've learned Joe was fine with living his life and willing to sacrifice himself so someone else could live. We would've learned Joe became dissatisfied with achieving his dream career and thus had no motive to live anymore.
Posts
0 Comments:
Post a Comment