Soul (2020)

After many moons, we finally got it together to have a moment of normalcy and watch a movie! We have been steeped in watching TV series that do not require much in the way of intellectual engagement, so we are rolling back into it slowly. The movie is a Pixar production in name, but it is hard to know what that means in the post-Disney take over. We watched it on Disney+ and there is definitely a Disney feel to it. I just hope that the Pixar method remains alive under the Disney umbrella. The movie is about a middle-aged never-married jazz pianist who has a near-death experience and gets stuck in the afterlife, contemplating his choices and regretting the existence that he mostly took for granted. He has dreams of making it big in music, and playing jazz is a time where he can really get transported to another plane, but he has never quite been able to make the leap to being a professional musician. He learns a lot about himself and the choices he has made when he mentors another soul, which is the memorable relationship in the movie. THis is good, worth watching with kids, and a contender to be an Oscar nominee in this odd season.