Soul

I had to rewatch this fantastic film. Soul is one of the deepest and hardest-hitting Pixar films since UP, or, in my opinion, the hardest-hitting Pixar film ever. Soul attacks the idea of purpose and what it means to be living in a way that I wouldn't expect a film intended for children to. .“I’m just afraid that if I died today, my life would have amounted to nothing.” .Self-worth and value are issues I've struggled with my entire life. What have I done to say that "yes, this life I experienced was worth it?" No one likes to think about that stuff, but as someone with what would be considered an "unsafe creative career field," am I doing the right thing? People will tell you to go into business, economics, or investment because "they're always hiring." But we may never know if that is the right answer? Will we ever? It's one thing to do something that gives you a guaranteed salary, benefits, etc, but if it's not something you love, then why do it at all? ."I heard this story about a fish. He swims up to an older fish and says, “I’m trying to find this thing they call ‘the ocean.'” “The ocean? The older fish says, “That’s what you’re in right now.” “This?” says the young fish. “This is water . What I want is the ocean !”.This quote hits hard in the eyes of someone who's going through the college experience. Being a creative major, more specifically Journalism, experience is key to getting to places. But sometimes, you need to ground yourself. As the quote says, we put our dreams and expectations on too high of a mental pedestal. But once we do get there, physically, we fail to recognize where we are and how far we've come. Everyone does this, not just me, directors, musicians, doctors, authors, teachers, whoever! When you make it, even if it's just one mountain out of a range of them, turn around and look how far you've gone. It's something I need to improve, and it's something I'm sure everyone else would agree with. .Soul addresses the uncomfortable and the tough reality we all need to face. We don't have a guaranteed purpose or objective in life, our life is what we make of it. An example is the barber who Joe (Jamie Foxx) claims was born to cut hair. But as the barber tells us, it was never his intention; he wanted to be a veterinarian after the Navy, but life got in the way, and it was easier to just go to barber school instead. Nothing in life is guaranteed, while I say I want to be a journalist, 5 years from now, I could be an author, a store manager, whatever!.Jamie Foxx was a great choice to embody Joe Garner. There are too many Joes in this world, people with talent who have to get substitutions because they're denied their dreams and aspirations. For Joe, it was being a music teacher instead of being a talented musician part of a jazz group. But as the film explains, Joe was not appreciative of what he had, even if it wasn't his dreams, he made it. .Overall, this was a perfect Pixar film, and it's such a shame that this brand is now forced to do more sequels for Disney than to create interesting IP such as this. I'm glad this film was made, but I am saddened that it was a pandemic Disney release and never got the theatrical release it deserved. My only nitpick with this film was the lack of jazz music. I would've liked more moments to enjoy jazz with Joe or in general, than just the quick montage we get when he plays with Dorothea Williams. But the hard-hitting messages are enough for me to forget and appreciate what Pete Doctor wanted to get out of this film, and for that, 5/5.