Read Mixed User Reviews for Soul

6

ZephlarDec 25, 2020

This movie captivated me quickly, but then left me a bit confused at parts. Not because anything was too ambitious or deep, it was more how disjointed the story seemed to be between the living world and spirit world. I don't want to ruinThis movie captivated me quickly, but then left me a bit confused at parts. Not because anything was too ambitious or deep, it was more how disjointed the story seemed to be between the living world and spirit world. I don't want to ruin anything but there are things that happen that flat out made zero sense and had my head scratching, especially in the last quarter of the movie. Also when the cat thing happened I was kinda like....I guess that has to be for the children because that route made way less sense to me than a fusion situation, where they were BOTH operating. It's one of those you have to just accept it's a fictional movie kind of deals.

I really enjoyed most of the characters a lot. Terry was my biggest gripe character-wise. I get you aren't supposed to like him and he's arguably the only antagonist if there is one, but he was just a means to an end obviously. I just felt like there was a struggle to connect the two realms to further the story in the writers room. There was a lot of hurrying things along near the end.

Overall a good movie that conveys a message about how our desire to seek purpose (and how those purposes can become obsessions) can take away from really "living" life. Just missed the mark a bit in the writers room.… Expand

4 of 5 users found this helpful41

All this user's reviews

5

ZodwraithDec 27, 2020

This is difficult to rate. As an overall movie it's pretty good with deep meaning of life searching subject matter. Problem is it's pixar so if you sit the kids down expecting Frozen or the like they're going to be bored out of their minds.This is difficult to rate. As an overall movie it's pretty good with deep meaning of life searching subject matter. Problem is it's pixar so if you sit the kids down expecting Frozen or the like they're going to be bored out of their minds. This is drama with a capital D so maybe watch it before you think younger kids will enjoy it. Mine didn't. Not from a lack of quality but simply because it's just not a kids movie.

Given that I have to wonder why they would even put it in pixar's hands instead of just making it live action. The subject matter is majorly adult but the visuals are very kids movie. I didn't hate it but was very dissatisfied when I was looking for a family movie that made everyone happy.… Expand

4 of 6 users found this helpful42

All this user's reviews

4

namelessDec 27, 2020

It is the movie "Heaven Can Wait" (1943 and 1978). Not sure why the people scenes are animated. The "uncanny valley" problem is huge, it pulls you out of the movie, over and over again. It really is a live-action & animated movie. It isn'tIt is the movie "Heaven Can Wait" (1943 and 1978). Not sure why the people scenes are animated. The "uncanny valley" problem is huge, it pulls you out of the movie, over and over again. It really is a live-action & animated movie. It isn't "The Incredibles" where the character's powers and stylization make sense. They tried to make it for all audiences and in the end, it isn't made for anyone. It is not for little kids because the theme is adult philosophical ideas and it is not for adults because the pacing and visuals are for kids. If you like "Inside Out" this will work for you, if you were just OK with "Inside Out" then make sure you have your fast forward button handy.… Expand

5 of 10 users found this helpful55

All this user's reviews

4

MovieTurtleDec 25, 2020

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Amazing visuals, snappy dialogue, interesting characters, lacking story, deplorable protagonist, and an ending that doesn't provide closure. I'd say I barely enjoyed watching it and will probably not see it another time. This movie honestly feels like it's trying to imitate Pixar's Inside Out, but does so with disingenuous material and does it poorly.

We follow our main guy Joe along his life being obsessed with music and finally getting the gig he wants only to fall into a sewer and die. From there we get to see the Great Beyond and the Great Before; terms that become problematic when talking about any actual afterlife that the movie makes neatly side step by saying that's all in the beyond.
Joe is able to avoid the Beyond (only to put a time limit on his actions and to trick him into thinking he's special) and escapes to the Before, where he proceeds to get back to his body even at the cost of stealing other's lives. Joe constantly shows he's selfish and doesn't care about others and only changes after he destroys a life and only through Deus Machina fixes it.

Combined with a lot of psych nonsense rhetoric, anti-christian hints, and naive view of life makes this movie feel like a way of tricking the next generation the way Disney did the previous: feelings are all that matter.… Expand

3 of 8 users found this helpful35

All this user's reviews

4

pardogatoDec 27, 2020

Emotional blackmail to make you feel bad if you happen to say you didn’t liked it. Seen in Korean Soap Operas and in Bollywood classics, now Pixar relies on this “ye olde” formula to explicitly state a positive feel-good “message” to guardEmotional blackmail to make you feel bad if you happen to say you didn’t liked it. Seen in Korean Soap Operas and in Bollywood classics, now Pixar relies on this “ye olde” formula to explicitly state a positive feel-good “message” to guard itself from its cinematic faults.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

All this user's reviews

4

LoZe12Jan 5, 2021

esto es de opinion mia asi que diré que no me gusto y ya pero eso si la animación es hermosa

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

All this user's reviews

5

screenplayhouseFeb 8, 2021

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. When I used to be a screenwriter type -- I'd sometimes write a story that was full of great ideas and such -- but at the end of the story it didn't nail the landing.

For days I'd scratch my head and try to make parts of the story more spectacular. Which this film does to... no effect. Except that it makes matters worse.

What I would then do is step back from MY story and act like it was written by someone else. What I would then do is go thru the 'rule book' (best practices of all great movies) and -- VOILA -- I'd discover broken rules. Everywhere.

Listen. I'm not talking about formula. I hate formula too. I'm talking about best practices. Do tables work best with four legs? Yup. So did Soul include tables with four legs? Or did they get caught up in/very distracted by their 'wonderful' story and forget these best practices? That's a big YUP.

The most appalling practice they violated was, "Who's story is this?" Like it or not, Pixar, every great story has one lead that the story belongs to. Did the Good Witch take over the story from Dorothy? Nope. Did Leia take over Luke's story? Nope. Did Buffalo Bob take over Starling's story? NOPE.

So why does SOUL think 22's story is more interesting than Joe's? To the (painful) degree that 22 inserts herself inside of Joe? This is not a transgender story. It was a story about a black man and jazz and then SOUL throws that in the dumpster.

So when this movie takes a victory lap for featuring a first black protagonist, think again. The morons are blissfully unaware that they got bored of that story and thought whitey ping pong ball Tina Fey was a better idea. Like I said, PAINFUL.

Tina Fey's role was supposed to be 'the best friend'. That's the 'best practice'. The entity that helps Joe on his journey. SHE should have become the cat, not Joe. The other major misstep in this piece is what I call WRITERS WRITING ABOUT WRITING. Instead of telling a story for all of us -- they're telling their story. The obvious violation of this is when a story is about a writer writing a screenplay that gets produced and his girl decides to marry him because "you're such a great writer!"

In SOUL Writers Writing About Writing is much better hidden. But it's there. You see the audience was pitched this story about a jazz musician. So what we wanted to see was a musician who goes 'into the zone' and makes us feel all warm and jazzy.

Jazz, in this story, is really about being a Disney animator. Spending morning noon and night rendering crap on computers. This was hinted at in the scene where the stock broker is given a soul. Remember what he did the moment that happened? He pushed his PC and monitor off his desk and ran out of the room gleeful to be alive. In other words: "Don't be a tool like me and sit in front of a computer all day. Go outside, in the sunshine, watch a leaf fall, and enjoy a slice of pizza!!!!"

This 'universal truth' is more an accidental recommendation of the story instead of an inspired goal. And really -- this viewer would have rather watched a musician find JAZZ and by doing so somehow unlock the secret of the universe. And I don't love jazz that much, mind you. It's just that --

-- yet another best practice is called 'If you put a gun on the stage -- use it." The gun, in SOUL, is jazz. Which they trashed for a slice of pizza.

This movie is being rated better than it should because black lives matter. But the cynical way this film blackspoited Joe to tell Tina's story is APPALLING.

5 stars is being generous.

I'm giving this film a 5 but frankly it's not worth recommending or seeing again.… Expand