Soul (2020):The Pixar Animated Movie That Asks Whether Chasing Your Dream Is Enough to Make a Life Meaningful

Soul introduces students to questions that most movies don't get close to: What gives a life meaning? Does having a passion make you happy, or is it the life lived around that passion that matters? These aren't abstract ideas in the movie, they're dramatized through Joe Gardner, a middle school band teacher who has spent years waiting for his big break as a jazz pianist. When he finally gets it, he falls through a manhole and finds his soul on an escalator to the afterlife.

What follows splits between two worlds: the streets of New York, where Joe's body ends up in unexpected company, and the Great Before, a place where unborn souls find their spark before heading to Earth. Joe is paired with 22, a soul who has spent thousands of years refusing to find hers. Their dynamic gives the movie its humor, and their journey gives it its weight.

For a classroom, Soul works across several conversations. The jazz setting is rich and specific, the music, the culture of performance, the particular kind of dedication it takes to pursue a craft over a lifetime. The movie also deals honestly with the gap between a dream and the reality of achieving it, and with what Joe discovers he had been missing all along. These are ideas students can engage with at almost any age, even if what they take away will vary.

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🎷 Jazz at the center. Soul is built around jazz, not just as a backdrop but as a way of understanding Joe's life, his identity, and what he thinks will make him happy. The movie portrays jazz performance and culture with genuine care, and the original score by Jon Batiste gives students a sense of what this music actually sounds like and feels like.

🌟 A story about purpose, not just dreams. Joe spends the movie chasing a dream he has held since childhood. What Soul does with that premise is more complicated than a straightforward inspiration story: it asks whether a single passion is enough, and whether Joe's obsession with jazz has cost him something. That tension gives the movie genuine depth for older elementary and middle school students.

💙 Big themes made accessible. The movie handles questions about life, death, and meaning in a way that is imaginative rather than heavy. The Great Before and the Great Beyond give the movie a fantastical structure that makes philosophical ideas easy to engage with, while the humor keeps it from feeling like a lecture.

👨‍👩‍👦 Strong character relationships. Joe's relationship with his mother, his circle of jazz musicians, and his unlikely bond with 22 all carry emotional weight. The movie uses those relationships to show what Joe has been taking for granted, and students across a range of ages can connect with the idea of not seeing what is right in front of you.

🎨 Visually inventive animation. The contrast between the detailed, textured realism of New York City and the abstract, pastel geometry of the Great Before gives the movie a visual range that is worth paying attention to. The design choices are deliberate, and students with an interest in animation or visual storytelling have a lot to look at.

🏅 Award-winning Pixar storytelling. Soul won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score in 2021. It was also a Golden Globe winner. For students, that context can be a useful entry point into conversations about what makes a story resonate.

⚠️ Things to be aware of:

• Themes of death and the afterlife are central to the plot and handled directly, though without graphic content.
• Mild insult language including 'idiot,' 'imbecile,' and 'you ruin everything.' One use of 'crap.'
• No sexual content, no substances, no significant violence beyond the opening accident.

📚 English Language Arts Teachers. Soul is a strong fit for ELA classes exploring theme, character motivation, and the idea of what makes a story meaningful. The guide supports a range of writing objectives, from character analysis and creative writing through to a full synopsis task, with differentiated comprehension question sets for mixed-ability classes.

🗣️ ESL and ELL Teachers. The multiple choice comprehension questions work well with ESL and ELL students, offering structured support for vocabulary and comprehension without requiring extended written responses. The visual and narrative clarity of the movie, with its strong imagery and relatively straightforward emotional arc, also makes it accessible for language learners.

🎬 Substitute Teachers and Cover Lessons. The guide is self-contained and easy to hand to a substitute. Students work through the comprehension questions independently during the movie, with additional activities in Part 2 to complete afterward. No prior teaching context is required.

🏠 Homeschool Parents. Soul works well for homeschool use across a wide age range. The differentiated question sets allow the same movie to be used with different learners, and the writing and storyboard activities in Part 2 give students a varied set of tasks to complete around the viewing.

💙 SEL Teachers. Soul is directly relevant to SEL themes: purpose, self-awareness, the relationship between ambition and wellbeing, and appreciating what you have. Joe's journey maps closely onto discussions about what motivates us and what we overlook when we are focused on a single goal. The guide does not include dedicated SEL activities, but the comprehension questions give students a structured engagement with the story, and the character writing task in Part 2 invites reflection on who Joe is and what drives him.

🎵 Music Teachers. Soul is built around jazz music and the life of a working musician, making it a natural choice for Music classes exploring musical culture, the pursuit of a craft, or the personal significance of music in someone's life. The guide does not include music-specific activities, but the comprehension questions keep students accountable during the viewing and provide a structured record of the story they have watched.

🌟 Supporting All Learners Movie guides can be a wonderfully calm fit for students with autism, learning difficulties, and mild to severe disabilities. The structured format gives every student a clear purpose during viewing, easing uncertainty and allowing them to engage at their own pace. If you teach in a special education or learning support setting, you may find this guide a gentle and practical resource. Find out more about why movies work for diverse learners.

Part 1: Comprehension Questions
Three differentiated question sets in chronological order: 40 questions requiring full sentence answers, a 30-question version (10 removed from the full set), and 30 multiple choice questions with three possible answers each. Answer keys are included for all three sets.

Part 2: Favorite character writing, word search, storyboard and synopsis.
Four activities to complete after viewing. Students write about their favorite character, describing their personality, what they liked and disliked, and drawing them. A word search includes 15 hidden words, with 5 clue questions to answer before searching. A 9-scene storyboard asks students to draw and describe what they consider the most important moments in the movie. Finally, students use their completed storyboard as a guide to write a synopsis of the movie.