Disney’s animation division is on fire. Coming on the heels of Disney/Pixar’s Onward, their next Pixar animated feature film Soul arrives on June 19. The official trailer dropped today and it shows a dreamy afterlife in which the main character Joe Gardner arrives after accidently falling down an open manhole. Not exactly a glorious Viking death to be sure.
Joe, played by Jamie Foxx, is a middle school music teacher with dreams of becoming a jazz musician. He finally gets his chance, but his dream is cut short. Or is it? Due to some supernatural mix up, his soul is in the great-beyond, but his body is still alive on earth (unconscious in intensive care, not walking around like a zombie).
In an attempt to get back to his body, he teams up with a pre-life soul, 22, played by Tina Fey. 22 doesn’t really want to go to earth after spending way too much time in a “You Seminar” where souls develop before going to earth to be fused with a newborn.
Soul also features the voice talents of Questlove as Curly (a drummer), Phylicia Rashad as Joe’s mother, and the very popular Daveed Diggs as Paul, who is apparently not a fan of Joe.
BTW, Soul is the first Pixar film to be led by black characters/actors. That’s surprising since inclusivity is a common theme in Pixar films. I guess they were waiting for the right story. And Soul looks to be just that. We’re looking forward to seeing the film when it hits theaters in June.
