Douban score 9.0: "Spiritual Journey", a good movie of "ordinary"

If there is a place that can change your destiny, are you willing to restart your life with one click? The animated film Journey of the Mind attempts to give a whimsical answer. Douban score 9.0, Metacritic media score 85, Rotten Tomatoes freshness 93%, "Journey of the Mind" is a "good movie without controversy" worldwide Have you seen it?

The new film from the director of Up and Inside Outhas the aesthetics of a whimsical adventure, but its themes are very raw.

Directed by the directors of Flying House and Inside Out, the new film celebrates a whimsical adventurous aesthetic, yet with a very rustic theme.

If Disney’s animated-movie formula relies on tales of heroes and princesses, of villains destroyed and personal freedom achieved, then Pixar’s formula is far more mundane. For decades, the computer-animation studio has made movies that portray transcendent feelings and experiences as the products of ordinary jobs, performed diligently by strange little beings behind the scenes. Monsters, Inc., in 2001, revealed that our fears were created by cuddly, blue-collar creatures. Inside Out, in 2015, personified our emotions as brightly colored sprites pressing buttons and pulling levers. Now, Soulimagines how our personalities are created at a cartoon summer camp, where smiley blobs and squiggles convene to generate human souls.

If Disney's animated movie model relies on heroes and princesses, bad guys being punished, and personal freedom being realized, Pixar is more grounded. For decades, this computer animation studio has portrayed extraordinary emotions and experiences as the product of ordinary work, played diligently by strange little people behind the screen. The Monsters Inc., released in 2001, tells us that fear was created by chubby blue-collar monsters. Released in 2015, "The Mind Agent" anthropomorphizes our emotions into brightly colored elves who press buttons and pull the lever. Today, Journey of the Mind imagines that our character was produced at a cartoon summer camp where balls of joy and lines come together to produce human souls.

All three of these movies were directed by Pete Docter, the man who is also behind Up. One of Pixar’s foremost auteurs, the filmmaker is enamored of using animation to conjure worlds rooted in abstract metaphor. Soul, which debuts today on Disney+, is his most conceptual film yet, largely set in a realm known as “the Great Before,” a cloudy land where human personalities are created and zapped into our bodies upon birth. The ambition of Docter’s world building is laudable. And the smaller, human narrative he tries to tell within that universe—about a jazz pianist who finds himself stuck in the Great Before after a near-death experience—is sweet and charming.

All three films were directed by Pete Doggett, who was also his work. As one of Pixar's most prominent directors, Doggett loves to use animation to build a world based on abstract metaphors. Premiering on December 25 at Disney+, Journey of the Mind is his most abstract film to date, set in a world of "birth", where human characters are created and accompany us at birth. Doggett's ambition to construct the world is commendable. He sought to tell the story of a jazz pianist who found himself trapped in the "place of birth" after experiencing a near-death death, a more subtle, human narrative that is warm and charming.

Docter has wrestled with “grown-up” themes before and managed to cram them into an easy-to-understand story arc. Upbegan with the emotional hammer blow of an aging character losing his wife before he embarked on a new adventure. Soulsets an even tougher challenge for itself by apparently killing its lead character within minutes. But Docter finds clever ways to travel between the heavens and Earth, using the odd, nonphysical world Joe finds himself in to teach valuable lessons about finding joy in life even as it disappoints us.

Doggett had previously explored the theme of "growth" and managed to condense it into an easy-to-understand storyline. The Flying House begins with an emotional shock, an old man who loses his wife before embarking on a new adventure. Psychic Journey sets a more difficult challenge, killing the protagonist within minutes of the start. But Doggett came up with a clever way to shuttle between earth and heaven, using the strange immaterial world in which Joe lived to tell us some precious truths, and teaching us to find happiness in life, even if life is disappointing.

We are all born with dreams, Docter seems to be saying, bubbling with ideas and personalities that are created even before we come into the world, but Joe’s story proves that there is more to life than that. Essentially, Docter has made a Pixar film for kids that tries to run at the nature-versus-nurture question and ends up splitting the difference. Compared to Pixar’s recent spate of sequels to past hits, Soulis a loftier project—a messy but expansive story worthy of its director’s grand ambitions.

Doggett seems to be saying that we are born with dreams and are full of ideas and character before we come into this world, but Joe's story tells us that life is more than that. Essentially, Doggett let Pixar's children's films try to explore the question of nature and nurture, and eventually reach a compromise. Compared with the sequels to many of Pixar's recent hit films, the theme of "Psychic Journey" is more noble, the story is chaotic but rich in content, worthy of the grand ambitions of the producers.

Source: Hujiang English