Movie Review: ​Soul

Disney’s Soul follows the life of Joe Gardner, a jazz musician who is trying to make his way in the world of music. Once he finally gets a chance to make it big, his life takes a huge turn – down a sewer drain. Joe finds himself existing as a soul about to enter the Great Beyond, when he finds his way to the Great Before, where souls get their personalities before being born. He ends up being a mentor for a soul that has not been born yet – a troublemaking soul named “22”. 22 realizes that Joe is not where he is supposed to be and decides to help him return to his body. They run into difficulties through his quest to get back into his own body, but Joe learns that life is not what he thought it was. He believed his purpose, the reason he was put on Earth, was to perform music because that was what he enjoyed and wanted to pursue, but he learns that there is more to life on Earth than someone’s supposed purpose.

​Soul is a beautifully animated film which features interesting takes on what makes a person themselves. With its focus on instrumental music, it caters toward musicians because they can relate to Joe or even his students. But even non-musicians can relate to the film. While music is very important to some, the film also explores how other people enjoy their life and find occupations. From a barber to a street musician, a doctor to a therapy cat specialist, this film features people who have found occupations that they enjoy. Through the film we learn that people’s occupations may not be the thing that they wanted to do their whole life – their “purpose” may not be their spark that inspires them.
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We can learn from the film that no one is created with a purpose other than to live. We may find things that inspire us or things that we enjoy, but those just add to our experience at life. This film can help us realize that we can let ourselves enjoy what we want and not worry about whether or not we have a purpose in this world.


Soul can be found on Disney+

​Editor: Valerie Roen

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