Pete Docter's Soul arrives as a 2020 American animated fantasy from Pixar that dares to ask what makes a life worth living. The film follows Joe Gardner (voiced by Jamie Foxx), a middle-school band teacher and aspiring jazz pianist who finally gets his big break — only to fall into a manhole and find his soul separated from his body. In the "Great Before," where new souls get their personalities before birth, Joe teams up with 22 (Tina Fey), a cynical soul who has avoided Earth for centuries, to find his way back before his body gives out.
Wikipedia describes Soul as a 2020 animated fantasy film directed by Pete Docter, co-written with Mike Jones and Kemp Powers, produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, with voices from Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton, Rachel House, Alice Braga, Richard Ayoade, Phylicia Rashad, Donnell Rawlings, Questlove, and Angela Bassett. It is the first Pixar film to feature a Black lead. The film premiered at the BFI London Film Festival in October 2020 and released on Disney+ on Christmas Day, bypassing theaters due to the pandemic.
Docter conceived Soul around the origins of personality and the concept of determinism. The animation team consulted jazz musicians including Herbie Hancock and Terri Lyne Carrington, and Jon Batiste's session recordings informed the musical sequences. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross composed the ethereal score for the afterlife scenes, while Batiste wrote the jazz pieces. The visual contrast between the textured, lived-in New York and the soft, abstract Great Before is striking — each realm has its own design language.
What elevates Soul beyond a clever premise is its emotional honesty. Joe's obsession with his "purpose" blinds him to the life he already has; 22's refusal to be born masks a fear of disappointment. The film's resolution — that a spark isn't a grand destiny but a readiness to experience — lands gently but firmly. It's a family film that respects children's capacity for big questions and adults' need for reassurance that ordinary moments matter.
For a thoughtful, gorgeous, and unexpectedly moving animated film, Soul delivers on every level. It's the kind of movie that starts conversations at the dinner table and lingers in memory. Whether you're a jazz lover or not, the music alone is worth the watch.