[Film Review] Onward (2020) and Soul (2020)

Title: Onward

Year: 2020

Country: USA

Language: English

Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy

Director: Dan Scanlon

Screenwriters: Dan Scanlon, Keith Bunin, Jason Headley

Music: Jeff Danna, Michael Danna

Cinematography: Sharon Calahan, Adam Habib

Editing: Catherine Apple

Voice Cast:

Tom Holland

Chris Pratt

Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Octavia Spencer

Mel Rodriguez

Lena Waithe

Ali Wong

Tracey Ullman

Grey Griffin

Wilmer Valderrama

Rating: 7.3/10

Title: Soul

Year: 2020

Country: USA

Language: English

Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy

Directors: Peter Doctor, Kemp Powers

Screenwriters: Peter Doctor, Kemp Powers, Mike Jones

Music: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

Cinematography: Matt Aspbury, Ian Megibben

Editing: Kevin Nolting

Voice Cast:

Jamie Foxx

Tina Fey

Graham Norton

Rachel House

Alice Braga

Richard Ayoade

Angela Bassett

Donnell Rawlings

Questlove

Phylicia Rashad

Wes Studi

Cora Champommier

Daveed Diggs

June Squibb

Esther Chae

Rating: 8.2/10

Watching two Pixar features of 2020 to bid farewell of this annus horribilis, from Dan Scanlon, the creator of MONSTERS UNIVERSITY (2013), ONWARD is about two elven brothers’ quest to actualize a 24-hour visitation of their deceased father in a magical realm that is modeled upon our modern world (where mod cons have rendered magic obsolete). SOUL, from Peter Doctor, the brain behind MONSTERS, INC. (2001), UP (2009) and INSIDE OUT (2015), on the other hand, tells the soul-reaching revelation of an ordinary man after a near-death accident.

ONWARD is a purely boyish adventure that preschool kids can be transfixed for a goodly 102 minutes, influenced by RPG like Dungeons and Dragons, peopled with fantasticated creatures like elf, goblin, unicorn, cyclops, faun, centaur, manticore and a bunch of fiery pixies (all given bouncy personal traits that often amusingly contrast with their appearances, Spencer and Ullman are my picks for locutionary excellence), to say nothing of the final antagonist in the form of a giant dragon-shaped golem (no derelict parents or evil adults to be the obstructive force, just an ancient curse).

The theme of an awkward high school boy finds himself is cut out to be an adept warlock along the journey is all too familiar, but the unexpected discovery that a surrogate father has always been there for him is still able to hit home with Pixar’s always thoughtful message behind all the thrills and chills (first time, one’s heart sinks for the demise of an automobile, Rise to Valhalla, damn you!), if at first one might sense an inopportune whiff of mythologizing and glorifying a father figure, in the event, ONWARD lands on its feet as a satisfactory second-tier Pixar production that brings a little magic in one’s heart, apart from the remiss that the brothers’ mother is stiffed by the chance to see her dead husband, she is too busy combatting a fearsome dragon to even give pause for that thought, right?

SOUL is an animation for all and sundry, and gloriously carries the torch of Pixar’s undiminished originality in enlightening and instilling audience with cosmic wisdom bearing on the overlook of our lifeworld. Here, it features Pixar’s first African-American protagonist, the middle school music teacher Joe Gardner (Foxx), who is smitten by a fatal mischance, minutes after he finally secures a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform in the band of the legendary jazz muso Dorothea Williams (Bassett), he gives up the ghost by accidentally falling into a manhole.

Cannot believe his oceanic misfortune, Joe’s soul scampers from entering into the “Great Beyond” and ends up in the “Great Before”, where he is mistaken as a mentor to train unborn souls. The plot cleverly evades the Sisyphean task of expounding the before/afterlife mechanism as the more you explain, the more loophole will emerge. Joe’s soul is assigned with 22 (Fey), an immemorial (considering the number!) soul who is obdurately averse to be born on earth and has been staying in the “Great Before” for eons. This odd pair hits off immediately, as Joe is keyed up to reclaim his body on Earth and resume his dream and 22 is more than happy to get rid of another mentor, a running gag derives from all the famous mentors who have majestically failed to proselytize 22 (from Marie Antoinette, President Lincoln, to Carl Jung, among others). However, 22 cannot find her “spark”, which can complete her badge which permits a soul entering Earth and becoming a human.

Joe and 22’s “spark” searching journey assumes a nice body-swapping gimmick on earth, so that Joe can assess his hitherto unsuccessful life on the sidelines, with 22 inhabiting his body and getting a feel of how to live as a human for the first time, this accident precipitates sea changes in both, and when 22’s spark finally materializes, Joe uses 22’s badge and gets his body back. After fulfilling his dream, Joe gets the satori and realizes what does exactly 22’s spark mean, will he assist 22 to be born even at the expense of his own time on earth? (his soul can return to the “Great Before” when he enters an ASMR state.) For shizzle, SOUL can warm the cockles of our hearts.

Apart from its perspicacious advocacy of joie de vivre and mindfulness, which exalts SOUL to be one of the most eloquent cinematic philosophers, its animation department also amazingly struts its stuff by designing its cubistic line-drawing characters in an otherworldly macrocosm, and seamlessly concatenating the disparate, kaleidoscopic elements of an absorbing story taking place on multiple planes. Though by my lights, SOUL cannot reach the extraordinariness set by INSIDE OUT, which has a more cogent outline to underlie its emotional weight. That said, as far as it goes, SOUL is a marvel of its own, not least for that dreamily ethereal score confected by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

referential entries: Scanlon’s MONSTERS UNIVERSITY (2013, 7.3/10); Peter Doctor and Ronaldo Del Carmen’s INSIDE OUT (2015, 8.8/10); Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina’s COCO (2017, 8.6/10).