We watched Soul by Disney Pixar again the other evening. (We’d seen it closer to its original release date, but I never wrote up my opinion of it at that time. Instead, I’ve been letting the movie’s concepts and plot percolate in the back of my mind until now.)
Soul is a 2020 American computer-animated fantasy, dramedy produced by Disney Pixar. The story follows a middle school music teacher named Joe Gardner, who seeks to reunite his soul and his body after they are accidentally separated, just before his big break as a jazz musician.
Wikipedia
While the overall concept of the movie is cute and interesting, it’s a hit and miss of thoughts and theories. I like the idea of a Youth Center for new-to-be-born souls where they can try out different personalities and likes and dislikes of Earth culture (although most of that culture appeared to be USA-inspired). And the way they treated mentors and life reviews was also cute (if not totally accurate).
The thing of it is, I wasn’t really looking for complete accuracy (although it would’ve been nice). After all, it’s a cartoon, meant to appeal to a wide range of ages, ethnicities, and cultures, so of course it’s not going to be 100% accurate to anyone’s perception of the afterlife—and that’s okay (IMO).
However, this time when we watched it I noticed several plot holes that rather bothered me. These plot discrepancies are as follows:
WHEN JOE GARDNER (our protagonist) meets 22 (the baby soul who has never been to Earth and doesn’t want to go), he asks why 22’s voice sounds like that of a middle-aged white woman. Now, I beg to differ. I found that comment out of character and rather presumptuous since I thought that the voice and characteristics and mannerisms of 22 made it sound more like an overly dramatic female teenager, rather than a middle-aged woman. Did it sound white? Most likely, but was that really a necessary distinction to make? It wasn’t as if any of the other characters sounded specifically Puerto Rican, Jewish, or Swedish, so why pick on that aspect of that character?
(Note: I didn’t know that 22’s voice was that of Tina Fey until after the movie played, so I continued to think of 22 as a recalcitrant, headstrong, and melodramatic female teenager throughout the movie.)
WHEN JOE GARDNER ends up in the cat’s body, there’s a quick view of the cat’s soul on the stairway to the great beyond. Then toward the end of the movie when Joe is back in his body and 22 is back up in the great waiting room, the cat lady comes to retrieve her cat who is alive and well as if nothing ever happened to it.
So, how did its soul get back to its body? Or is it someone else’s soul trapped in there? Or maybe it’s a different cat soul in that cat?
Now, I get it. Cats never do the expected. If there wasn’t a large sunbeam on that stairway, the cat’s soul probably did jump off the stairs while chasing someone’s feet, or fell off because it was simply that klutzy, or it jumped off just out of curiosity. It’s what cats do. But you have to admit it does make that ending part of the movie a bit odd for the lady to find her cat alive and well down there in the subway.
JOE GARDNER FINALLY figures out what the spark is and so decides to go back to help 22 realize that they are ready to go to Earth. He gets himself into the zone by playing his piano and he jumps onto the ship captained by Moonwind. Together, he and Moonwind look for 22, whom they find lurking in the Sea of Lost Souls.
When 22 sinks the ship, and then runs away, Joe follows. He chases 22 until he finally catches up with them and explains that 22 is ready to be born. Then Joe accompanies 22 in the jump to Earth. However, instead of jumping back into his body, which was very much alive and playing the piano just a few moments ago, he is suddenly dumped back onto the stairway to the great beyond. (Huh?)
My dilemma? Why was he dumped onto the stairway to the great beyond when his body is still alive (or at least it was the last time we saw it). I mean last we saw of him, he was sitting in his apartment playing the piano. He should have finished the jump to Earth and landed in his body, while 22 landed in the baby’s body that they had chosen. So, what the heck happened there?
The makers of the film could just have easily had two or more of the Gerries discuss amongst themselves how great Joe was to be able to help 22 like that, and so this jump back was his second chance on Earth to live his life (making his death experience more of a near-death experience). Also, during that discussion, the Gerries could have shown how one of them rigged the count for Terry so Joe’s life safe (from Terry anyway).
So, while I still enjoy the movie enough to have purchased a copy, these plot holes still bother me enough that I can’t rate this movie higher than a B+.
If you want to read more about the afterlife and how it appears to someone who was actually there, then check out my award-winning book, Escorting the Dead.
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