Oh boy, where do I even begin with this tragic tale of cinematic woe? Pixar’s Soul—a film so profound it could make a stone weep—was cruelly robbed of its rightful place on the big screen. Instead, it was banished to the digital abyss of Disney+, where it languishes alongside forgotten B-movies and questionable reality shows. How dare they?
Director Pete Docter, the man behind classics like Monsters Inc. and Inside Out, had the misfortune of releasing his magnum opus during the height of the pandemic. You know, that magical time when theaters were emptier than a politician’s promises and movie releases were rarer than a rational conspiracy theory. Poor Soul was postponed, delayed, and ultimately dumped on streaming like last week’s leftovers. Docter claims it was “heartbreaking,” but I’m pretty sure he meant it was more like a slow, painful death by a thousand cuts.
But wait, there’s more! Disney, in their infinite wisdom, decided to make Soul the guinea pig for their grand streaming experiment. “We’re going to put it on Disney+,” they said, as if they were casually announcing a new flavor of ice cream. Docter, ever the optimist, thought it was a discussion. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t. It was a decree from the corporate overlords, delivered with all the warmth of a tax audit.
And let’s not forget the other victims of this streaming massacre: Luca and Turning Red. Poor things never even got a chance to breathe the sweet, sweet air of a movie theater. Pixar tried to make a comeback with Lightyear, but audiences were like, “Nah, we’re good.” Thankfully, Elemental and Inside Out 2 swooped in to save the day, with the latter becoming the highest-grossing animated film ever. Until Ne Zha 2 and Zootopia 2 came along and stole its thunder. Typical Hollywood drama.
Soul itself is a masterpiece about a jazz-loving teacher whose soul gets separated from his body. It’s like Ghost, but with more existential dread and fewer pottery scenes. The film’s message about the preciousness of life was so timely in 2020, a year when everyone was questioning their existence. It’s a shame it didn’t get the theatrical release it deserved, but hey, at least it provided some much-needed comfort to people stuck at home, binge-watching everything from The Mandalorian to Tiger King.
As Docter so eloquently put it, “We had spent four-plus years on the movie. We were approaching the end, and then, bam!” Yeah, Pete, we feel you. It’s like spending years baking the perfect cake, only to have it tossed into the trash because someone decided cupcakes are the new trend. Tragic.
So here’s to Soul, the film that deserved better but got Disney+ instead. May it rest in peace, or at least until someone decides to give it a proper theatrical re-release. Until then, we’ll just have to settle for streaming it between episodes of The Simpsons and The Kardashians. Oh, the humanity! 🎭🍿
Finn McFrame, celebrated satirical mastermind and self-proclaimed “Emperor of Irony,” started his illustrious career as a cinematographer, where his expertise in capturing every single frame of a squirrel stealing a baguette earned him accolades at obscure film festivals.
Born in the glamorous town of Boring, Oregon, Finn grew up with dreams of being a Hollywood director until he realized that satire, not cinema, was his true calling—or at least the one that let him sleep until noon.
Finn McFrame: changing the world, one satirical lens flare at a time.
