From the realisation that sometimes Joy and Sadness go hand in hand, to Boo’s softly spoken “Kitty?” and to the total gut punch that was Andy’s final goodbye, Pixar have been delivering emotional rollercoasters for nigh on 25 years. Personally, my opinion on the success of a Pixar film is largely determined by its ability to make me cry and with the disappointment of this year’s earlier release Onward, my expectations were sky high for their Christmas release, Soul.

Unfortunately, although visually Soul was everything I have come to expect from Pixar, the story did feel a little lacklustre and it didn’t quite deliver the spark I wanted.

Joe Gardner is a rather unsuccessful Jazz musician who works part time as a music teacher to help make ends meet. The same day he is offered a full time teaching position, with all the financial securities that come with it, he is also given a big break performing with Jazz legend Dorothea Williams. Unfortunately for Joe, he falls down an open man-hole and finds himself, well his soul anyway, heading towards the light of the Great Beyond.

Desperate to return to his body and fulfil his lifelong dream, Joe runs away from the light and finds himself in the Great Before, where souls are given their individual personalities before jumping to Earth to live out their lives as humans.

Mistaken for a Mentor, Joe finds himself paired with ’22’, a cynical and stubborn soul who refuses to take the leap, so to speak. Realising they can help each other out, 22 agrees to give Joe her pass to Earth if he can help her find her spark but things don’t go exactly to plan and, in a ‘freaky friday’ style mishap, 22 finds herself in Joe’s body and Joe…? Well, he finds himself inside a therapy cat.

As they set out to return to their proper selves, they embark on a journey of self-discovery. Joe realises that in his bid to achieve musical success, he forgets to truly connect with the people around him, and 22 learns that there is beauty in the world and life on Earth just might be worth living.

As I previously mentioned, the animation was beautifully done. From the brilliant almost hyper-realistic rendering of New York City to the ethereal, abstract interpretations of the Other Side, every single frame of this film is a feast for the eyes.

Unfortunately, the story doesn’t quite deliver the same experience offered by the visuals. There was a real potential to explore some of the more cerebral elements that make us special, following in the footsteps of director Peter Docter’s previous film Inside Out, but instead of exploring ideas like the feeling we get when we are ‘in the zone’ or the special spark that makes us individuals, Soul quickly turns into a run of the mill and rather predictable run of the mill story that we have all seen a hundred times before.

Whilst there was plenty of humour, particularly if you are a cat owner, but there were a few little plot holes that I was able to overlook but caused Mark to switch off completely, the biggest one being that, despite falling down a man hole and dying, when 22 is in Joe’s body, he appears to have no injuries at all and walks out of the hospital the very same day.

What disappointed me the most is that there was a lot of potential to be had. I would have loved to have seen Joe truly realise the impact he has as a role model, either as a teacher on Earth or as a mentor in the Great Before, imparting a profound message that sometimes what we do for other people is far more rewarding than achieving something for ourselves.

And as for 22, who did she become on Earth? Although this has been categorically denied as a sequel or prequel to Inside Out, personally, I would have loved to seen an after credit scene where 22 is born as a little girl named Riley.

Pixar’s Soul is available to stream on Disney+