I loved it. Best Pixar ever? No. That’s a high bar though. But it hit some good notes and was amazing to watch.
Also the collection of Pixar shorts? Really worth watching. I’ve a few more to go. The ones I’ve seen hit hard on the diversity and inclusivity themes and do it very effectively. Some of them more than others of course. Loop and Float are my favorites so far.
My family just watched it and we liked it. Thematically it’s a combo of Coco and Up. The animation was good, with the style for real life, after and before life, and the Jerries. The kids really wanted to know what happened to Soul 22 after being born, and to Joe. I thought they ended it perfectly; it’d been anticlimactic otherwise.
Goes without saying that the music was superb. I’m a sucker for jazz trombone.
I enjoyed it. I didn’t think it was the best Pixar ever (not even close) but some of the concepts were pretty cool, the characters were fun, and I think I understand jazz a little better now. Thematically, it reminded me most of Inside Out. Pixar’s getting pretty good with making metaphysical concepts into engaging stories.
We just finished it. It really spoke to my almost-16-year-old daughter.
I really liked it. I didn’t like Inside Out, but even though it was conceptually similar, it worked on every level for me. I liked the thematic conclusion, and the ending.
I loved: the animation and the different art styles; it was funny; even though the body swap idea is tired, they handled it effectively and with enough originality for me to let it slide; the music was great; the diversity was suspiciously off the scale; I liked the voice acting, and that there was a NZ accent in it; and it was also just heartwarming about a very big heavy issue.
Definitely a big recommended from me.
The Gerries reminded me of Prismo from Adventure Time.
I haven’t seen it yet, but I watched a short piece where the guy who wrote it was talking about what went into it - really interesting! So it’s on my list.
I didn’t think that until I saw Terry moving around on Earth.
And a little bit of Mr. Holland’s Opus.
Didn’t care for it. Seemed like a grab bag of mixed messages and concepts that either weren’t fully explored or thought out.
I liked the real world stuff with Joe and and other human characters but the metaphysical stuff just felt cartoony and non-sensical. Apparently Joe is the first person to die and not want to move on to the afterlife? Souls are predetermined to be self-centered personalities? It’s okay to be passionate about music but if you’re passionate about something like finance or hedge funds you must be a lost soul?
The best moments were 22 connecting with humans (asking the barber about his personal life, on the steps with the trombone student, learning about his mother’s life) which should have been Joe moments of discovery.
It also felt like a missed opportunity to explore the mystery and magic of music. How it can touch our emotions and make us so human and different from animals and machines. Instead we got “Joe really likes jazz. Here’s some jazz. Maybe you’ll like it too?”
I think there is a really good movie in there somewhere about Joe, humanity, touching our emotions through sound, being more aware of the people around us, etc. that got lost in a weird story about finding a passion for an unborn soul.
I thought it was decent. Lots of fun individual bits… the animation on the Jerries was stunning. But I’m really not sure what the message it was trying to convey was. Some version of “don’t forget to enjoy life as you’re living it”, I guess? But did we ever learn how that related to 22, and how they found their “spark”, and what sparks really are, etc?
Yes, all three of those. I have to confess, I was confused why Joe’s family and friends weren’t disconcerted by 22’s voice coming out of Joe. Then I remembered that nobody heard Joe’s voice coming from the cat.
I liked the cameo by Pizza Rat.
Also about not over-obsessing on talents and dreams. They’re a good focus point, but they’re not everything that matters.
I wouldn’t overthink the message. Which to some degree is the message: don’t overthink it. The spark is just some spark of ability to enjoy living. Could be a passion. Could overlap with purpose. Could be eating pizza and enjoying whirligigs. Or getting to know other people.
The spark used to be the why.
Just watched this. I really enjoyed it. Best Pixar movie in a long time outside of Toy Story 4. Well paced, good emotional mix. I loved the pizza rat cameo.
I agree with your comments. In addition I’d add that I struggled to get Joe’s character arc (as they say): he seems to have been a self centred, self absorbed dick to a degree and that doesn’t seem to change until he saves 22. Even then, he’s still solely focused on himself, aside from now looking at the sky. From that I presume the message was: it’s OK to be a self-centred self absorbed dick, as long as you stop to smell the roses and enjoy the little things.
I expected him to realize that his spark was helping and teaching others and he’d realize how he really never understood that because he was so self centred. In the end I thought he’d stay as a Jerry to mentor souls. I didn’t like the message in a kids movie that you can cheat death.
Lastly - I had huge issues that they had Marie Antoinette and Mother Theresa as mentors, WTF?!?! A monarch who defines out of touch arrogance as her subjects die around her and a nun who deliberately didn’t help people because she believed suffering was the path to heaven. Holy shit, I guess the good news is they skipped Hitler and Pol Pot.
