The new Pixar film "Soul" is dedicated to existential and philosophical questions. That begs the question: is this still for children?
The Pixar Animation Studios have recently shown themselves to be masterful in dealing with complex, elusive topics in a child-friendly manner. "Coco" brightly and touchingly destigmatized death, "Everything is upside down" cleverly explained the function and urgency of emotions – including those that are supposedly negative like grief. The latest work called "Soul", which will not be in the cinema due to the corona pandemic and will instead be shown from December 25 via the Disney + streaming service, now addresses no less complex questions. Where do we come from and how does our unique personality come about? And: is our career predetermined by them?
Born to something higher? It's all about this
Joe Gardner (originally voiced by Jamie Foxx, 53) is absolutely certain: his purpose in life is music, more precisely jazz. Since he was introduced to the world of jazz by his late father, he has dreamed of a career on stage. The only thing is that fate doesn't seem to have gotten wind of his destiny and so Joe ekes out a life as a lovable, but increasingly unmotivated music teacher. Will the crooked notes of his moderately gifted students haunt him to the death?
It seems so. Because when he unexpectedly beckons a gig as a jazz pianist, the setback follows, and what a hit. Joe falls into an open manhole and apparently out of life. But while he suddenly finds himself as a cute astral form with hat and glasses on the escalator towards the afterlife, Joe discovers his long-lost will to live. Via detours and contrary to the rules of the astonishingly bureaucratic posterity, he ends up in "Davorseits", that place where young souls receive their individual personality before they become human.
Because Joe is considered to be a so-called "mentor" there, who is supposed to help the future inhabitants of the earth to find their respective destiny, he soon finds himself confronted with an almost impossible task. He is supposed to make life palatable for the stubborn soul 22 (Tina Fey, 50), who has made herself comfortable in "Davorseits" for eons – a challenge that Mother Theresa, Nicolaus Copernicus and others failed miserably at before him are.
Real and literal existential fears
Up until now, Pixar's films were primarily intended for children's entertainment that also worked for adults. Young main characters like in "Coco" or "Everything is upside down" give way in "Soul" to a man around 40 who, not least because of his mother's worries, is plagued by existential fears. Instead of pursuing his dream and risking making art without a job, he got into a secure job as a music teacher for her sake.
There is even a literal existential fear that worries 22 – the fear of existing. "I've been here for who knows how long now and I haven't seen anything I would like to live for." So what if you don't find anything that feels like "destiny" in your entire existence? To a certain extent, in "Soul" midlife crisis meets philosophical "prelife crisis" – both of which are not necessarily topics that children between the ages of zero and twelve should deal with.
That must also have been clear to the makers of "Soul", who in the middle of the film pick up the kids with a few slapstick sequences – thanks to a human soul, accidentally transported into the body of a cat. Before the wrong impression arises: The strip is anything but a deadly serious, existentialist search for the meaning of life. Nevertheless, for the first time, "Soul" no longer looks like a children's film for adults, but rather like an adult film for children. And jazz as the driving motive of the plot underlines this feeling. Of course, "Soul" still has a statement that should be written behind the ears of both young and old.
It's worth taking a second look
The potential for narrative faux pas was great. Did the action also pose a threat to thoughts like: Does that mean that some people are destined to become a garbage collector, for example? A difficult balancing act that "Soul" masters in an inconspicuous, at the same time perhaps its best scene, which occurs in a hairdressing salon. Of course, according to the hairdresser, he did not grow up wanting to cut people's hair every day. He would have liked to become a vet, but certain circumstances prevented him from doing so.
But he is not unhappy about it, on the contrary. Because his work consists of much more than "just" manual skill. Often enough he also serves as a kind of pastor. "That's why I love this job. I can meet interesting people like you, make them happy … and beautiful." Sometimes, according to the film, you just have to improvise, "jazz" your way through life. Missing your supposed destiny doesn't have to make you unhappy – and reaching it doesn't necessarily make you happy.
Conclusion:
Once again Pixar packs existentialist questions, thoughts and worries into a brightly colored, charming animation world. There is enough narrative bandwidth to be awarded the title "family entertainment". But adults, especially parents, are addressed more than ever before by "soul". And as such they see themselves perhaps more motivated than ever by the film to act as real "mentors" and on the one hand to give the kids interests, worldviews and convictions on the one hand, and on the other hand to simply give them the right time " to jazz ".