'Soul' Trailer: Pixar's Latest Gets Existential

Pixar is about to get existential with Soul, their latest original movie with a wild premise. When the soul of jazz musician Joe Gardner ends up being separated from his body (he's apparently not dead, at least according to the official synopsis), he finds himself transported to the place where our souls originate before finding their ways into our bodies. Yeah, it sounds weird, but also kind of amazing. Watch the Soul trailer below.

This Soul trailer is visually stunning and almost maddeningly vague. Is this about the afterlife? Is the main character dead? Who knows! All I know is I'm glad Pixar is making something original again instead of another sequel. And from a purely visual standpoint, Soul looks lovely. It also feels like a spiritual successor to Inside Out, one of Pixar's best films.

"It started with my son—he's 23 now—but the instant he was born, he already had a personality," Soul director Pete Docter said regarding the origins of the film. "Where did that come from? I thought your personality developed through your interaction with the world. And yet, it was pretty clear that we're all born with a very unique, specific sense of who we are."

Soul begins with the story of Joe Gardner, "a middle-school band teacher whose true passion is playing jazz. Just when Joe thinks his dream might be in reach, a single unexpected step sends him to a fantastical place where he's is forced to think again about what it truly means to have soul. That's where he meets and ultimately teams up with 22, a soul who doesn't think life on Earth is all it's cracked up to be." Jamie Foxx is the voice of Joe, and Tina Fey voices 22. The film also features the voices of Questlove, Phylicia Rashad, and Daveed Diggs. And perhaps most surprising of all, it also features a score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, musicians you wouldn't automatically associate with a Disney-Pixar film.Soul opens June 19, 2020.