by Tony Ruggio
Pixar gonna Pixar. That is, use cute anthropomorphic beings to explore the many profundities of life and make us cry in the process. Soul appears to be another excellent example of their personal stamp. Better yet, it's one of two Pixar originals this year (their firsts since Coco in 2017 since the last two years have been sequels). Let's do the Yes No Maybe So after the jump...
YES
-
I’m totally onboard for Pixar exploring the afterlife. Coco explored it through Dia De Los Muertos imagery, but here it looks like we’re getting a more generalized concept via ghosts and other spiritual happenings. Perfect for living up to Pixar’s rep as a purveyor of animated complexity.
-
This is Pixar’s first movie with a majority African American voice cast!
-
Voiceover narration implies there might be some thematic soup involving creation, creativity, and our purpose in life. I’m a sucker for “the meaning of life is creation.”
MAYBE SO
-
Will the ghostly characters prove too monotonous visually? I’m picturing a slew of characters rendered in the same way as the lead and his jokey sidekick are at the end of this teaser. We’re used to seeing a wide variety of colors and costumes with Pixar characters.
-
Given Coco’s journey to the other side, is Pixar retreading ground?
For the life of me, I can’t think of a hard NO for anything, not yet anyway. It’s only a teaser. Regardless, we have faith. Pixar is the greatest animation house, having bested Disney over the last couple of decades by a considerable margin. Here’s hoping they’ve crafted another winner for the ages.
P.S. Oh and because we never covered it, in case you missed the trailer for Onward that's included, too. Onward opens March 6th, 2020 and Soul arrives just three months later on June 19th.