Soul debuted December 25, 2020, on Disney+; allowing people who have premier access to buy and watch the movie. Now the movie is available for anyone to watch on Disney+ and will be available as a DVD on March 23, 2021.

Jamie Foxx voices Joe Gardener, a middle school band teacher in New York who, ever since he was a child, has wanted to become a professional musician. He finally got his chance, yet died before he was able to act on it.

Joe tries to escape his fate before he can go to “the great beyond,” where souls go after their life on Earth has ended, he jumps off the trail and ends up in “the great before” where souls are made. While there he meets 22, voiced by Tina Fey, a soul that has been there for centuries and decided they do not want to have a life.

22 and Joe get mixed up and 22 is put in Joe’s body while Joe is put into a cat’s. The two of them must find a way to get things back to normal, all while 22 is discovering the little things that make life special.

Soul is much different than what Disney and Pixar have done in the past by offering a more mature storyline, tackling the meaning of living your life to the fullest and making every day count. 

With its 2020 release date, Soul comes amidst the recent upsurge of The Black Lives Matter movement. The movie focuses around many People of Color (POC) characters and grazes on the impact POC had on jazz music.

Soul won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film, and was also nominated in three other categories. This was also the first animated movie Pixar has ever released that did not premiere in theaters, but rather on Disney+. While making the movie, the creators did not anticipate having it come out during a pandemic. Therefore, at the end of the movie credits, you can see Terry, an accountant, telling people “Hey! Movie’s over. Go home!”, referring to fans that stay in the theater to watch any extra clips after the movie.

Despite not being able to premiere how Disney and Pixar originally intended, Soul was one of the most highly rated movies, earning a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, and is spoken of very highly by many critics. Soul lives up to the reputation it has earned and is a good movie to watch for anyone of any age or background.