Yes No Maybe So: Pixar's 2020 Films "Soul" and "Onward"
Tuesday, November 19, 2019 at 10:40AM
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
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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.
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This is Pixar’s first movie with a majority African American voice cast!
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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
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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.
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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.
Onward, Oscars (2020), Pixar, Soul, animated films
Reader Comments (5)
Thoughts on Onward: It looks like Pixar's Shark Tale. Maybe the actual movie is a surprise, but on paper, this just looks bad. The second trailer made it look less bad than the first one, but I'm still not enticed.
Thoughts on Soul: Alright, this looks more like what I want out of Pixar. Maybe it'll be a retread, but it seems like it could be a good retread.
Yes to both. Plus, I'm eager to see Soul as it will feature score music by Trent & Atticus of NIN.
I think we ALL know these will be amazing.
That first 45 seconds of the Soul trailer is magical. It was giving me If Beale Street Could Talk vibes. After that first 45 seconds... notsomuch. I'm hopeful it'll be the next Inside Out (witty and touching), but a little worried it may be the next Wreck-It Ralph (good premise but not so challenging).
Onward is giving me Smurfs vibes. Even the animation looks like it belongs in one of the lesser Dreamworks films. I won't be surprised in the least if it gets Pixar's worst reviews ever. I suspect that's why it's coming out so close to a film that seems much more promising. Perhaps they expect Onward to flop and hope Soul doing well will keep the naysayers from proclaiming their demise.
Pixar movies always get to me and make me cry- but it's going to be tough to beat the cinematic perfection which is "Coco"