Joe escorts her to the portal to Earth. As she falls toward a newborn body somewhere in New Jersey, she whispers, “See you on the other side, Joe.”
: Joe finally lands his "big break" to play with jazz legend Dorothea Williams, but he accidentally falls down a manhole and dies shortly after. The Great Before
Contrast this with the sequences set in New York City. The city is rendered with hyper-realistic grit: steam rising from manholes, the scuff on a barber’s floor, the precise texture of a warm slice of pizza. Pixar animators reportedly studied the subway system for months. This is intentional. The "real world" is visually overwhelming because it is real . The smoke and noise and dirt are what make life rich.
Dorothea looks at him and tells the film’s thesis: "I’ve heard this story before. A fish swims up to an older fish and asks, 'I'm trying to find the ocean.' The older fish says, 'The ocean? You're in it right now.' The young fish says, 'This? This is water. What I want is the ocean.'" Soul 2020 Movie
Joe panics. He can’t go to the Great Beyond. Not now. Not today.
But Pixar pulls the rug out from under us.
Her spark ignites. Not a goal. A curiosity. The simple, aching, beautiful desire to be there . Joe escorts her to the portal to Earth
10/10 Recommendation: Essential. Prepare to cry, laugh, and fundamentally re-evaluate your relationship with success. Available on Disney+.
Yes, the protagonist of a Pixar film dies in the first 20 minutes.
The sequence where 22 (in Joe’s body) experiences a slice of pizza for the first time is pure cinematic genius. The camera zooms in on her eyes, wide with wonder. She tastes, smells, chews. It is a scene of pure, unadulterated sensation . For a jaded soul who thought Earth was a prison, that pizza is a revelation. The city is rendered with hyper-realistic grit: steam
He returns to The Great Before just as 22 is fading into a lost, howling void of self-hatred—convinced she’s not good enough for Earth. Joe walks into her darkness. He doesn’t give her a purpose. He hands her the helicopter seed she watched fall.
: The film emphasizes finding joy in small moments—a warm slice of pizza, a falling maple seed, or a good conversation—rather than waiting for one grand achievement. The Danger of Obsession