Pixar is no stranger to movies with deep and meaningful themes that ask the audience to look inside themselves and ask important questions. However, the first trailer for the studio's upcoming movie, Soul looks like it might be the most introspective of all. It wants you to question your entire existence.
Pixar is releasing two films in 2020, and not only that, but both of them will be released in quite quick succession. We haven't even seen Onward yet, and we already need to get prepared for Soul. Check out the first trailer below.
If you thought Pixar had already plumbed the depths of what means to be human with Inside Out, it seems that Pixar and director Pete Docter, who also directed that film, have found even deeper questions to ask. What exactly do you want to be remember for? It's a question that forces you to confront both your own mortality and your legacy. You know, simple stuff for an animated movie for families.
Jamie Foxx plays Joe Gardner, a school teacher with dreams of making it in the world of jazz. As such, this trailer has some amazing music that really puts you in the groove. However, a bad step into an open manhole apparently turns Joe back into the physical manifestation of the human soul. He meets another soul, played by Tina Fey, who doesn't appear to have very high aspirations for her own existence.
How these two sides of the story connect together is anybody's guess at this point. Where exactly do things go from here? Who the heck knows? This is an early trailer, and Disney's trailer practices are pretty normal these days. Pretty much every movie gets two trailers, and the first is meant to get you to ask a lot of questions, the follow-up trailer might answer a few.
The part of the trailer with Joe Gardner in his human form, and an excellent jazz score, is quite catchy. It's a perfect thing to wake up to first thing in the morning. It all feels quite, for lack of a better word, cool. The last few seconds with the two souls and the silly joke take a pretty hard turn that feels a bit jarring. Maybe that's intentional. Maybe the tone doesn't really shift quite so hard in the full movie.
I'm hoping that the human side of the story is more than just the setup, as it all looks and sounds amazing. Although, when we get to see more of the world of the souls, perhaps that will be even more interesting and engaging.
I'm certainly looking forward to seeing more of Soul. The double meaning of the title is now clear, because not only does it have characters that are souls, but characters that have soul.
Soul hits theaters in June 2020.
