Jazz? Jamie Foxx's voice? Animation? Sign me up!
I had no idea what this movie was about when I sat down, and oh boy I was in for a ride.
I like the premise. Who doesn't want to be a famous musician or rockstar? Who doesn't feel sometimes (or all the time) that they could be doing more than our day to day jobs? I wouldn't mind trying the rockstar role. The interesting bit here is that the main character realizes that his life-long dream was not the end line. He was pursuing that goal while being unhappy. There was no magic switch that would make him happy once he made his dream come true.
You might get different takeaways from the movie. I take away that we have to enjoy the small moments, enjoy life as it goes by, and not be focused exclusively on the result. On something that might or not come true in the future. What happens if you never get there? What happens if you never reach your dream? You would have spent months, years, decades, or your whole life maybe unhappy when you could've approached life differently.
Soul tries to show that happiness starts with you. Surely it's not that simple but the main character had a good life. Family, stable job, musical skills, friends... Yet he was unhappy because he did not fulfill his long-awaited dream of being a professional player.
This movie does not feel it's meant for kids. Surely we have bits of slapstick comedy here and there but the plot is way more mature. It's not a bad thing, I think it's just uncommon for Pixar to do animation like this.