Just when the world could do with a little Pixar magic, Soul arrives. The studio’s new animated feature, directed by Pete Docter, is arguably even bolder than his last – 2015’s Oscar-winning Inside Out . While that film dramatised emotions like sadness and anger in a young girl’s body, Docter and his team are now tackling life’s Big Questions. Or as he explains: “What are we going through? What’s the world about? What am I supposed to be doing with my life?” Beyond exploring these age-old dilemmas, Docter wanted to examine the very nature of the soul. For the film, he conceived of a metaphysical space called “The Great Before” where learned counsellors usher yet-to-be-born souls – all looking a bit like Casper the Friendly Ghost – towards their Earthly bodies. It’s here where we first encounter a reluctant soul named 22, who has yet to find her “spark”, despite having many mentors over the centuries including Mother Teresa and Marie Antoinette. This was just the beginning for Soul , which evolved to become the first Pixar movie to feature a person of colour as the lead character. After considering an actor or a scientist as the person 22 encountered on Earth, the team came up with Joe, an aspiring jazz pianist who dies just as he’s about to get his one shot at musical glory. After consulting an anthropologist, Dr Johnnetta Cole, who referred to jazz as “black improvisational music”, they immediately decided to make Joe a person of colour. Soul review: dazzling Pixar tale about living life to the full “That just grew naturally out of the story and the subject matter … [we] came by it honestly,” Docter says. The production formed an “Internal Culture Trust”, a team of black Pixar employees who set out to ensure the black experience was authentically portrayed. Also hired was jazz musician Jon Batiste who promised Docter he’d compose some “user-friendly jazz … not too intellectual or esoteric”. American playwright Kemp Powers, best known for his work on the play One Night in Miami – about a legendary meeting between four black American icons: Cassius Clay, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown – was hired as co-writer/director, despite not having any previous animation experience. “For me, it felt like a natural fit as a guy who wants to tell original stories,” Docter says. “Big movies are almost all existing IP [intellectual property] and one of the only places on earth where you can come up with an original idea, develop it and make a movie is Pixar.” The character of Joe further evolved through the voice casting of Jamie Foxx, the actor-musician who previously won an Oscar for playing Ray Charles in 2004’s Ray . “This level of energy that he has, I think, really informed the character,” Docter says. Powers concurs. “In his original iteration, it wouldn’t have been unfair to call Joe virtually a doormat. Whereas the Joe that we ended up with … I think is a better Joe, a more realistic Joe.” Foxx, who has worked with Quentin Tarantino, Oliver Stone and Michael Mann in the past, became fully aware of the importance of his latest opportunity thanks to his youngest daughter, 11-year-old Anelise. She told him that, yes, he’d done animation before – he voiced a canary in Rio and Rio 2 – just “not the good kind”. Foxx was taken aback. “I said, ‘What do you mean?’” She replied in no uncertain terms: “You’re Pixar now. You made it.” Working for the company behind Toy Story and Finding Nemo is indeed a gold star for any actor. “I was so thrilled and curious to get the chance to see how Pixar works from the inside,” says Tina Fey, who voices 22. Like Foxx, the 30 Rock star was relatively new to animation and got to see how fluid the process was. “I went into a lot of sessions, and I would come back and there’d be rewrites and new pages of sequences as they evolved.” As collaborative as Soul was, nobody was prepared for opening it in the year of Covid-19. Originally due to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May – as Inside Out did – before a summer roll-out, Soul ’s release was delayed to November. When the pandemic showed no signs of abating, the decision was taken to move the film to streaming service Disney+, where it will debut on December 25. Fortunately, those living in territories like Hong Kong, where Disney+ is not yet available, can still watch the film in cinemas – assuming they are open, of course. “It’s kind of been an emotional roller coaster,” admits Soul ’s producer Dana Murray. “We’ve been holding on to this film that we put our souls into since June … it feels like we’ve been sitting on it forever.” As “grateful” as she is for Disney+, she’s pleased that the alternative is still possible. “It’s really great that in Hong Kong and China, they’re going to see it on the big screen, which is what we made it for.” Remarkably, the crew for Soul , working out of Pixar’s offices in Emeryville, California, haven’t seen the film all together at a big pre-release screening, as is traditional. Murray and her team even tried to book drive-in theatres, but those were shut down as the virus spread. “It’s been rough not being able to show it even to the people who made it,” Docter admits. Nevertheless, Soul is the soothing balm we all need after the horrors of 2020. According to Fey, it’s a “helpful reminder that [life] isn’t defined by achievement or attainment”, an invaluable thought in a time “when we’re all taking stock of what it means to have had a good year”. As she puts it, Soul is a story about finding the joy in the everyday “and being present with the people that you love”. It’s a particularly poignant message for Foxx, whose younger sister DeOndra Dixon, who had Down’s syndrome, died this year, aged 36. “When you talk about the little things, she always reminded me … she was always so excited,” he says. “So when you look at this film, it is exactly what I am now going through – the bittersweet [feeling] of losing someone but gaining a vision of joy.” With Bob Dylan on the soundtrack and references to Dutch painter Piet Mondrian on screen, it all makes Soul sound more like an animation for adults. Perhaps it’s even the closest thing Pixar has made to the contemplative works of Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli. Yet Murray argues that the response has been wild from children. “Kids seem to really understand and feel it,” she says. Docter nods, bringing up a quote from the legendary Looney Tunes animator Chuck Jones. “[He said] we try to make films that are intelligent enough for kids and simple enough for adults. That seems to be the case often – kids get stuff way quicker than adults do. I think there are levels to this film. And there’s something there for everybody to tune in on their own wavelength.” Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook