The Apple TV+ series, premiering Friday, Jan. 21, revives Jim Henson’s classic characters and is smart enough not to break what already worked so well.
G. Allen Johnson December 16, 2020Updated: December 21, 2020, 8:18 am
Jamie Foxx provides the voice and Jon Batiste the fingerings as Joe, the first Black star of a Pixar film, in “Soul.” Photo: Pixar
This is not how Pixar drew it up.
“Soul” was supposed to be among the box office hits of this past summer, proof that Pixar’s commitment to diversity as the studio’s first film to feature a Black lead character would be embraced by paying audiences, and that the Emeryville animation studio would be just fine under the stewardship of Pete Docter.
But, of course, the coronavirus had other ideas. After two delays as pandemic restrictions closed theaters, “Soul,” which stars Jamie Foxx as a middle-aged musician on the brink between life and death, will make its worldwide debut on Christmas, streaming onto Disney+ without the box office receipts that lift up a typical Pixar release and without the pay-per-view model Disney+ used for the live-action “Mul