Pixarhas always had the gift of sparking our curiosity about the world around us. Over the years, the animation studio has made us think toys from childhood in new ways, given us a deeper one appreciation of rats, and even made us think that all of our emotions play a valuable role in our lives. Now with SoulPixar tackles its most ambitious topic yet: the purpose of our existence. For a film ostensibly aimed at audiences of all ages, Soul wanders admirably in a pretty tough area, half of which is set in the “Great Before” – a place where souls develop their personalities before going to Earth, seen as a kind of heavenly summer camp. So, were the filmmakers behind Pixar’s latest worried that the ideas would be too big and elusive for the youngest moviegoers? Not really! Such as The AV Club learned when we spoke Soul co-directors Pete Docter and Kemp Powers and producer Dana Murray, they were reassured by a young test audience, who found they could often explain the film’s complex ideas better than their parents.
Soul will be streamed exclusively on Disney + from December 25.