Soul Review: 7 Ups And 3 Downs
8. Up: Joe And 22's Dynamic
As you'll know from watching Soul's trailers, the basic premise is that Joe suffers an untimely accident which sees him sent to the Great Beyond, only to escape to the Great Before where souls are created before being sent to Earth.
Mistaken as a mentor to one of these young souls, he's tasked with helping 22 find her purpose (something no one has been able to do for thousands of years). As the movie progresses, she teaches him about appreciating life, while he shows her that being alive is actually much better than 22 ever expected or realised.
The way Joe and 22 bounce off each other delivers all the laughs you'd expect from a Pixar movie, while also lending plenty of heart to Soul.
Foxx and Tina Fey have a really special chemistry here, and what could have been a clichéd, typical "opposites attract" tale instead unfolds in ways you'll never see coming; Soul is all the better for it.