The first trailer for 'Soul' spotlights Pixar's first African-American lead character, but Twitter has concerns: 'Is this gonna be a Princess and The Frog situation?'
Pixar kicked off 2020 by introducing the powerhouse animation studio’s first openly LGBTQ character in the new film, Onward. Now the makers behind contemporary animated classics like Toy Story and Coco are moving onward to break another barrier: the just-released trailer for Soul gives viewers their first look at Pixar’s first African-American lead character, Joe Gardner, voiced by Jamie Foxx. And the Oscar-winning actor couldn’t wait to tease his history-making role on social media. “Honored to be the first ever African-American lead in a Pixar film,” Foxx wrote on Instagram. “I cannot wait for you all to see this beautiful story.” (Watch the trailer above.)
Currently set to premiere in theaters on June 19, Soul is the latest film from Pixar mainstay Pete Docter, who also wrote and directed Up and Inside Out — two to the studio’s most beloved (and tear-inducing) movies. Based on the trailer, his new film is also going to go for the emotional jugular. As the story begins, Joe is a middle school music teacher on the cusp of achieving his ambitions of playing professionally in a popular jazz club. While celebrating the good news, he falls into an open manhole and the accident leads his soul to separate from his body. Ascending to the way station between life and death, Joe’s soul is informed that it’ll soon be paired with a newborn baby. But when he discovers that his own body is still alive, he teams up with feisty friend “Twenty Two” (voiced by Tina Fey) to re-enter the world on his own terms... and in his own skin.
The combination of Pixar, Docter and Foxx predictably has fans excited, led by none other than the actor’s Just Mercy co-star Michael B. Jordan.
This is going to be good!
— Walter Beckett (@GoodGuyWalter) March 12, 2020
Oh my goodness, #PixarSoul looks so cute! I need this movie in my life https://t.co/h3irLWQPMP
— Sophie Temple (@SophiesBookNook) March 12, 2020
Soul looks like another Pete Doctor Pixar masterpiece. I can already tell I’m going to be crying in the theater. pic.twitter.com/lovLs9WUPq
— 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯 | #𝘗𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺𝘎𝘢𝘯𝘨 (@johneberlejr) March 12, 2020
Woah, Soul looks like a completely different thing for Pixar and even a genius like Pete Docter. I can’t wait to see what he does with this movie because WHAAAT. pic.twitter.com/ZjcWVx8ixl
— Luis | Loves Moobis (@RealRadReviews) March 12, 2020
At the same time, even before the full trailer debuted, some have expressed concern online that Soul might fall prey to what they see as a disappointingly common Disney trope. The movie is arriving in theaters 11 years after The Princess and the Frog introduced the first African-American Disney Princess, Tiana, voiced by Anika Noni Rose. Much like Joe in Soul, though, Tiana inhabits a different body for much of the movie: a green amphibian, as opposed to a soul-shaped blob. That shape-shifting plot point was repeated in Spies in Disguise — the Blue Sky Studios-produced film that Disney released last December as part of its 20th Century Fox acquisition — with Will Smith’s suave spy being transformed into a pratfall-plagued pigeon. In all three cases, the presence of a black protagonist seems undercut by having that protagonist spend much of the movie in a different form.
I wanna be excited for this....and I love Jamie Foxx
But is this gonna be a Princess and The Frog situation? All this hype about a black lead but he’s actually this blue soul thing for 85% of the movie?? https://t.co/VY1WKwVWC3— Maxine Shaw (@Dizneys_World) March 12, 2020
Pixar: Elves, fish, cars, monsters, dinosaurs, robots, rats, bugs, white people, and even whiter people.
Brown people: ...
Pixar: Sorry. Yeah, brown people for the first 10 minutes then magic happens and they're not brown anymore.
Brown people: Rats in a kitchen, tho. pic.twitter.com/NwjvulO3sR— Marc Bernardin (@marcbernardin) March 12, 2020
Soul, featuring the first black Pixar lead character...who promptly loses his body. Princess and the Frog all over again.
— Dr. John Vilanova (@JohnVilanova) January 27, 2020
funny how brother bear, princess and the frog, coco, and pixar’s new movie soul all include people of color turning into something else for the majority of the movie😐
— angel misses macdennis (@macdennies) March 8, 2020
listen I LOVE. Princess and the Frog. Tiana changed my entire perception of myself. But with that pigeon spy movie and Soul coming out... we all need to sit down and talk about why animators constantly feel the need to take black animated characters out of their bodies.
— k; (@human_espresso) December 24, 2019
Yeah... I saw the trailer for Soul in the theater and when the turn happened I was gobsmacked to see yet another movie pull this.
Tbh I gave the benefit of the doubt to Princess and the Frog, but now it's a pattern. https://t.co/UU4V0KF4Gj— Stephan Krosecz (@Krosecz) December 12, 2019
Ok, so #Soul looks REALLY good....buuuut I’m not gonna lie and pretend I’m not a bit disappointed it seems to be another Princess and the Frog situation where we get a black protagonist only to have them not be visibly black for most of the movie. That DOES kinda suck. pic.twitter.com/iNBjT8b5i1
— Just Nicholas Moore Again (@NicholasMoore16) November 7, 2019
One thing’s for sure: Pixar can always be counted on to bring some heart and soul to the summer movie season.
Soul is currently schedule to open in theaters on June 19.
Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
Here's what new Disney CEO Bob Chapek told a woman who said the company promotes 'LGBT ideology'
Chris Pratt explains why Pixar's 'Onward' is ultimate guy-cry movie
'Onward' introduces the first LGBTQ character in Disney animation history
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