Pixar’s newest movie “Soul” is based on Joe Gardner’s life as a music teacher and musician, but also dives into the deeper meanings of life along the way.

Joe has a passion for jazz music and aspires to play the piano professionally but never reaches his dream, and finds himself working as a music teacher with kids who don’t appreciate the art of music as he does. When things finally start turning around and Joe is offered to perform with a jazz star, he ends up in the afterlife when he’s sent to the hospital. This is when Joe starts to question life and his purpose once he gets to the afterlife. He soon finds out he entered another part of the word called “The Great Before” also known as the afterlife. The whole idea of The Great Before is for souls to find their spark in order to go onto earth and have a purpose in the world. When Joe makes it to The Great Before, he tries to go back onto Earth without a spark and fails.

Joe eventually meets a soul named 22 when he becomes her mentor and shows her how he lived his life through his memories, and he realizes it wasn’t the life he wanted for himself. 22 is a troubled soul who struggles to find her spark and purpose in The Great Beyond. Throughout this movie, Joe and 22 develop an amazing friendship and realize what life is really all about together by learning to love and appreciate the little things in life.

At first, 22 assumes Joe is just another mentor wanting to brag about their time on Earth, and what they did to make the world a better place, but Joe has no memory of his life beyond the acceptance to perform for the jazz band. When he experiences the rest of his very own life for the first time, he’s disappointed. He sees himself failing to become a well-known pianist, and realizes he never makes a mark on the world with his music.

Joe and 22 enter The Bermuda Triangle hoping to make their way back on Earth without having to go through the spark system. They successfully make their way back on Earth but on this journey, 22 enters the body of Joe while Joe enters the body of a cat, and because of this mix-up, Joe sees the world from a completely different perspective.

When Joe and 22 transfer to earth together to go back and change his future from what he saw in the afterlife, he unintentionally starts to appreciate things other than his music career along the way. 22 is entering Earth for the very first time, so she struggles to put on the act as Joe, but especially struggles with preparing to perform in Joe’s spot for his one in a lifetime opportunity to play with a jazz band. With this huge responsibility put onto 22, Joe and 22 end up parting and fighting along the way, but once Joe realizes how blessed he is to have the things around him as he watches himself from a different point of view, he completely changes his attitude towards the world.

Joe never realizes that he affects 22 with the pressure he puts on her when she enters his body, and because of 22’s such little experience with being on Earth, she becomes extremely overwhelmed and feels useless. Joe doesn’t realize how much pressure he puts on her when 22 takes on the role of him and instantly regrets the way he treats her and has to rekindle the friendship.

This movie shows how Joe Gardner slowly starts to realize how important his family and friends are, and how beautiful everything around him is. Joe’s experience in The Great Before changes him for the better and gives him an outlook on how his life would turn out if he didn’t stop to smell the roses. Because of Joe’s impact on 22, she’s given the opportunity to join Earth once she finds her spark all because of Joe. This friendship helped Joe understand that there’s so much more to life, and he ends up living his life freely and carefree once he goes through such an experience and journey. Joe finally realizes he doesn’t need to make a mark on the world to be happy.