Soul Review: 7 Ups And 3 Downs
2. Down: It's A Little Too Dark (And Weird) For Younger Viewers
Soul is definitely aimed at younger viewers, and the themes of life and death definitely aren't too complicated for them to digest. However, there are times when what's playing out on screen gets too dark - and weird - to truly say this is a perfect family film for Christmas Day.
It's damned good, and one of Pixar's best, but Joe attempting to escape "The Great Beyond" and finding himself desperately trying to return his soul to his body after a horrible accident could be understandably off-putting for some parents over the holiday season.
There are a lot of really hard-hitting themes to delve into, and at times, Soul feels more like one of those quirky Disney shorts than a commercially friendly feature film (as a result, it's not hard to see why the decision was made to have it premiere on Disney+ rather than in cinemas next year).
With Wonder Woman 1984 the other big option come December 25th, Soul could get overlooked, and while that's a shame, it's also not overly surprising.