In the end, just like in Frank Capra’s classic, meaning is not found by acquiring fame or financial success. Rather, meaning is found in learning to see life’s inherent but overlooked wonders, and by learning to love the life he’s actually been given (which, in his case, includes bad middle school music, New York Pizza, a dingy apartment, a loving and opinionated mother, among other things).
To be clear, as a few Christian reviewers have pointed out, Soul’s excellent lesson comes wrapped in New Age mysticism with terms like “chakras” and “astral planes,” and the idea of pre-existing souls in some vast “Great Before.” Even though Soul presents these ideas with a good bit of goofiness, parents will want to talk through the movie’s theological errors.
As a point of reference, evangelicals have long quibbled with C.S. Lewis over The Great Divorce because of its portrayal of Purgatory. Yet those who get stuck in the setting and never take the rest of his story seriously miss out on one of his best works, not to mention lessons as relevant for this life as for the next.
In one scene in Soul, we see some so-called “lost souls” coated in their obsessions and insecurities wander through a spiritual dimension, oblivious to all around them. We get more than a hint that this is a kind of “hell,” the fate of those who “follow their dreams” or succumb to their fears at the expense of everything and everyone else.
The whole scene is a profound and subtle rebuke of one of our culture’s central and mistaken assumptions, that meaning can be measured by paychecks and popularity. In the end, the film echoes one of Christianity’s central insights: that all of life, when lived for a higher purpose, is sacred. As William Tyndale said, “… to wash dishes and to preach is all one, as touching the deed, to please God.”
After a year of disappointments, cancelled plans, and dashed hopes, this redemptive message is one many need to hear. The zany cartoon metaphysics of Disney-Pixar’s latest film by seem a bit odd, but trust me, this one has a Christian soul.