‘Soul’ is a beautiful film about the joys and sorrow of living

Posted on January 1, 2021

By MARK VIOLA

If you’re a frequent reader of my reviews, you probably know that I’m a big fan of animation in general and Pixar Animation Studios in particular. Although the studio hit a creative rough patch between 2011 and 2015, it has been mostly on a roll of late with such films as “Inside Out,” “Coco,” “The Incredibles 2,” “Toy Story 4” and “Onward,” one of the last movies to hit movie theaters before the COVID-19 shutdowns.

Now, nine months after their last film and six weeks after it was originally supposed to hit theaters, Pixar’s newest movie is here: “Soul.”

Instead of its originally-planned theatrical release, “Soul” became available to Disney+ subscribers on Christmas Day, and unlike the live-action “Mulan,” there is no additional cost involved. I must admit I was a bit sad that “Soul” became the first Pixar film in 17 years (2003’s “Finding Nemo”) that I didn’t watch for the first time in a theater. However, that is no fault of the film itself, and not something I can hold against it.

Not that there’s anything really to hold against “Soul,” because it is a wonderful film that continues Pixar’s long-standing tradition of telling fun, vibrant stories that also pluck our heartstrings to play beautifully emotional music. Although on its surface the story is about death (similar to 2017’s “Coco”), it is actually much more about living and the dreams we spend our days pursuing.

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