Pixar’s Soul follows a jazz pianist who teaches band at middle school for an unfulfilling day job, while constantly waiting for a career in music that never seems to come. It’s a choice that we all have to make at some point in our lives: keep chasing that lifelong dream or settle for a full-time staff position with some sweet job security with health benefits. Admittedly, that’s a pretty “grown-up” matter to tackle on especially for what’s mainly still a children’s movie. But Pixar are never one to shy away from engaging heavy themes in an all-ages manner, although they can fall into a pattern of depicting relatable feelings and experiences using sublime beings in some abstract space.

We are introduced to the main story when Joe Gardner (voiced by Jamie Foxx) carelessly falls into an open manhole. Before ending up comatose in a hospital, his day has been going great so far – he gets offered a full-time teaching job at his school with full benefits, and then passing an audition for a prominent jazz figure Dorothea Williams (Angela Bassett) who had invited him to play that same night. It’s the big break Joe’s been clamoring for all his life! After his near-death experience, he’s transformed into a little soul blob that’s sent to the Great Beyond, a cosmic stairway to heaven where souls line up to enter the white light. But Joe isn’t ready to move on to the afterlife just yet, so he runs back, falls off the walkway, and ends up in a cosmic purgatory known as the Great Before.

In the Great Before, fresh souls are mentored so they can find their “spark” that will lead them to a happy life on Earth. Joe gets mistaken for a mentor and is paired with a soul name 22 (Tina Fey), a cynic troublemaker with no interest in living, therefore getting constantly rejected during mentorship by history’s most prominent figures like Abraham Lincoln and Mother Teresa. The two make a deal, in which Joe would mentor 22 to find her spark. then he’d take its place when it’s finally time to go back to Earth. What follows is some Pixar-style hijinks, and Soul does a superb job in subverting the usual misadventures of its characters.

Directed by Pete Docter with screenplay by Kemp Powers, Soul can be considered as a cousin to Docter’s last Pixar outing Inside Out in some ways. Both films boast impressive world-building and cleverly finds creative ways to explore mundane human elements that children can still comprehend. The Great Before feels like a brightly-colored summer camp, supervised by celestial beings named Jerry that are stylized as humanoid squiggly lines, ever present in weaving through a lively bureaucracy. It’s original, and extremely pleasing to look at, especially when the film bounces back and forth between the lively, bustling visuals of New York City and the pastel fields of the Great Before. This direction makes Soul one of Pixar’s most aesthetically beautiful films in years.

Aside from being a visually pleasing film to see, Soul is unapologetically African-American, from featuring the first Black protagonist in a Pixar film to celebrating jazz music. At one point, Joe’s father introduces jazz as one of their greatest contributions to music and the world in general. Other notable touches include an entertaining visit to a Black barbershop, a point where the film starts to push its main message. It’s a refreshing perspective to take, one that takes away the suburban middle-class characters we’ve all been accustomed to in Pixar’s various offerings.

There’s a surprising air of unpredictability for a Pixar film as well. I mean, of course Joe and 22 eventually achieve what they set out to do, but the film goes to some unexpected twists in how its themes are delivered, slowly building up to it until it finally kicks its viewers in the gut. Soul, at its core, is essentially a midlife crisis story disguised as a kid’s movie (even the comedy might be a bit too much for children to understand). The film’s lesson could be summed up as, “It’s not about the destination, but the journey.” It’s one of those motivational quotes we see everywhere, and ultimately ignore most of the time. So Soul is here to reassure and remind us to stop and smell the flowers once in a while. And as this tumultuous year nearing its end, that’s something that we should’ve learned to do by now.

Rating: ★★★★½