The visually stunning and heartfelt Soul is one of Pixar's most acclaimed films to date
and hidden in the movie are stacks of deep-cut
references to other classics such as Inside Out, Toy Story, and Wall-E.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, I'm Jan and in this video I'm revealing every easter egg and crucial
detail you might have missed in Pixar's Soul. There are some spoilers, so take care.
The best place to begin our Soul easter egg hunt is in the Hall of Everything,
one of the locations in the Great Before where new souls go to find their spark.
In the sky you can see Charles Muntz's blimp, the Spirit of Adventure, from Pixar's Up.
Floating in the distance, and a little more difficult to see, is the Axiom from Wall-E,
one of the giant Starliner spacecrafts built by Buy n Large during the evacuation of Earth.
And the monorail is a nod to Metroville and the second Incredibles movie where
the city's monorail track was destroyed during the battle with the Underminer.
Back on the ground, the Aztec temple is a reference to Coco's Land of the Dead and
the Aztec stone structures that form the base of the buildings in that movie's afterlife.
And another Coco easter egg crops up later on when Twenty Two is deliberately
messing with humans in the Zone. After she interrupts the tattoo artist,
you can spot a very Coco-style skull in a portrait on the wall.
The Pizza Planet truck with its distinctive red and white rocket on the roof is here in the hall.
The truck originally appeared in Pixar's very first feature
film Toy Story and has shown up in almost every Pixar film so far.
And resting on the side of the truck is a double bass, an instrument that's also
prominently on display in Joe's apartment. The garbage truck behind the Pizza Planet
truck is likely a Toy Story 3 reference to the truck that Sid worked on as a
garbage collector and the one that Lotso ended up on at the end of that movie.
You'll find the A113 easter egg on a set of street signs in the Hall of Everything.
The appearance of A113 in Pixar's films is a tribute to the classroom at California
Institute of the Arts where many of the studio's animators studied.
The suspended whale is a nod to Finding Dory and the giant mammal on display in the
indoor exhibit at the Marine Life Institute. And this orange-coloured dinghy, complete with
on-board motor and two souls sitting inside, tips its hat to another scene from that movie
where two workers from the institute pick Dory out of the ocean after they
discover she's caught in a piece of plastic. And further back is the Pixar lamp, aka Luxo Jr,
who made his first Pixar appearance in a short film of the same name.
The lamp also appears on the production logo of every Pixar film.
Next to the lamp is a black piano, an allusion to the piano Joe plays
at the Half Note club in New York. Speaking of the club, there was an
easter egg to one of its stars in Onward via a record by the Dorothea
Williams Quartet in Ian and Barley's house. Because Soul's director Pete Docter also directed
Inside Out, there are many shout-outs to that beloved movie in the hall.
The tower with a pennant on top just behind the temple appears to be from the Princess Dreamworld
castle in Inside Out's Imagination Land, which was demolished after Riley's memories of it faded.
And the truck is a likely reference to the same trucks from Inside Out that
the Mind Workers used to plough old faded, memories into the Memory Dump.
This purpley-blue trampoline is similar to one which appeared in
Riley's early childhood memories. There's also the Golden Gate Bridge
which Riley saw for the first time when she moved to San Francisco.
And while trolleys aren't unique to San Francisco, Riley did marvel at one when it drove past her
family's car as she arrived in the city. The studio chair could also be a reference
to the one Rainbow Unicorn sat in at Dream Productions.
An interesting Brave easter egg pops up in the video played during the mentor training
presentation by one of the Jerrys. We see a soul find its spark after
it successfully fires an arrow into the centre of one of three targets,
alluding to the scene where Merida demonstrates her archery skills
during the presentation of suitors, by firing her arrow into three targets.
This large, curiously-shaped object resembles the top-heavy rock called Willy's Butte that
Doc Hudson challenged Lightning McQueen to a race around in the first Cars movie.
And the cactus plants down on the ground might also be a call-back to how, during that race,
Lightning ended up skidding out of control and falling into a cactus patch.
The passenger plane is likely a nod to Everett, the jumbo jet that Mater narrowly
avoided crashing into in the Cars sequel. And London's iconic Big Ben could be a
reference to Big Bentley, where Mater was briefly imprisoned.
The Eiffel Tower from Paris which also appeared in Cars 2 is here as well, although this
could also be a reference to Ratatouille. And this biplane here may be one of the light
aircraft flown by Charles Muntz's dogs in Up. And it might also be a hat-tip to Barney Stormin,
the Piston Cup skywriting-plane from the first Cars movie.
The chessboard that a couple of souls are playing is likely a shout-out to
the Pixar short film Geri's Game, in which an elderly man plays chess with himself.
This giant Ferris Wheel is probably a reference to the fairground attraction from Toy Story 4.
The canoe is likely a shout-out to Pixar's 2020 short film Loop.
And this large dog looks like it could be either Dug or Beta from Up.
After Joe and Twenty Two leave the Hall of Everything, they go inside "Just A Box" where
the iconic Pixar ball makes its appearance. The Luxo ball is a regular Pixar easter egg
and a homage to the short film, Luxo Jr. The pink flamingo in this room could also
be a nod to the flamingo character "Sunny Florida" from Pixar's short film Knick Knack.
Also in this room is Twenty Two's collection of her previous mentors' name stickers.
There are a huge number of deceased, real-life historical figures who in
the Pixar universe once tried to help the obstinate soul find its spark.
"Copernicus..." "The world doesn't revolve around you, 22!"
"Muhammad Ali..." "You are the greatest pain in the butt!"
"Stop talking! My unconscious mind hates you!"
Some interesting names you'll find here that weren't mentioned in the movie include Joan
of Arc, Confucius, Albert Einstein, iconic soul singer Aretha Franklin,
and comic book legend Jack Kirby. There's also Joe Ranft,
one of Pixar's original animators who worked on all of the studio's movies,
as well as voicing various characters, before he tragically passed away in a car accident in 2005.
There have been many tributes to him in Pixar movies over the years, including naming one
of the scarers in Monsters Inc after him. There are some nice extra details in the scene
where we discover that Marie Antoinette was one of Twenty Two's former mentors.
Notice that Twenty Two is holding up a piece of cake, a reference to the phrase
"Let Them Eat Cake" that's been famously misattributed to the last queen of France.
Also notice how Marie Antoinette is just a floating head without a body,
referring to the fact that she was beheaded during the French Revolution.
"Nobody can help you! Nobody!"
And the way she emphasises and repeats the word "no-body"
in this moment is a clever bit of word play. The scene also reminds me of the funny moment
in Toy Story where Buzz bemoans being made to have tea with two beheaded dolls.
"One minute you're defending the whole galaxy. And suddenly you find yourself suckin' down
Darjeeling with Marie Antoinette and her little sister."
Something particularly hard to find this time around was the cameo by John Ratzenberger,
who's always voiced at least one character in every Pixar film.
He's not credited in the movie, but listen very carefully as Joe walks through the Hall of You.
There are various on-screen characters who tell him "Sorry Joe" as they turn him down,
and then off-screen in the background you'll hear Ratzenberger's distinctive voice say
"We're looking for something different." There's also a fun detail in the scene where
Twenty Two tries to find her spark by experimenting with chemicals.
The chemical formula for the compound behind her is theobromine,
one of the principal stimulants in chocolate. And notice how the chemical reaction gives
off a little cloud of brown powder. It might also be a little shout-out to
Russell and Kevin from Up who were both chocolate fans, especially as that movie was directed
by Pete Docter, the director of Soul. Another Pixar movie that Docter directed
was Monsters Inc and there's a moment in the You Seminar that links back to that film.
After souls are paired up with their mentor, Jerry conjures up a door and sends them through it,
instantly transporting them to another location. This portal-like quality of doors in the Great
Before is similar to how they work at the Monsters Inc factory where monsters can
cross over into the Human World through doors. And this detail is crucial for how Soul fits
into the Pixar Theory. More on that later.
Although many of the personality pavilions in the Great Before were designed to be abstract-looking,
a few of them were deliberately given specific shapes by Pixar's animators.
So, the Aloof Pavilion is shaped like a nose pointed up in the air,
and there's also a little icon of a person with their nose pointed up just above the entrance.
There's a clue to spiritual sign twirler Moonwind's ability to project
his consciousness into the Astral Plane via the words on his T-shirt "Living the Dream".
The CND peace symbol pin that he wears on his jacket is also the
design of the anchor for the ship that he navigates whenever he gets in the Zone.
And a much older peace symbol, a giant dove with an olive branch,
forms the figurehead of that ship. The name of the group that Moonwind commands,
Mystics Without Borders, is a play on the name of real-life organisation Médecins Sans Frontières,
aka Doctors Without Borders. Much of Soul also takes place
in New York and there are many Pixar easter eggs hidden around the city.
For instance, on the subway there's an ad for a company called "Brang"
with the slogan "What did you brang?" This is an ingenious easter egg to Riley's father
from Inside Out, as Brang is the name of the tech start-up company he joined in San Francisco.
There's an easter egg to Luca, Pixar's next film after Soul, in the window
of a travel agency that Joe walks past. The poster is a painting of an Italian seaside
town with the words "Visit Portorosso". Luca is a coming-of-age story set
on the Italian Riviera. When Joe discovers he's in a
New York hospital, there's a subtle clue that Twenty Two will end up in his body if you look
at the monitoring machine by Joe's bedside because the model is a "Smrt-vu PX-22".
And it's no coincidence that Twenty Two was chosen for the name of the soul that Joe mentors,
because there have been a total of 22 Pixar feature films prior to the release of Soul.
There's a lovely moment in the movie when Joe, via Twenty Two who's in his body,
has a heartfelt conversation with his mother. On the wall in the room where this happens
is a little picture with the motto "Sewing Mends The Soul".
It might be a common saying, but it also has a double meaning in this moment because this
conversation with Joe's mother is crucial for Twenty Two finally coming around to understand
the pleasures of living and life on Earth. And so, this scene literally mends the
soul we know as Twenty Two. There's a funny moment when Joe
as Mr Mittens goes to fetch a slice of pizza for Twenty Two and, as he returns, he sees a
rat dragging a piece of pizza along the floor, an amusing reference to the Pizza Rat meme.
Also here is an interesting bit of graffiti which looks
like it might be a second A-1-1-3 easter egg. I can't say for sure as the potential A is more
of a triangle here, but the A-1-1-3 easter egg did appear as a graffiti in Inside Out which, as
I mentioned earlier, was by the same director. There's an interesting potential connection
between Soul and Toy Story 4 that you can see via the name of the removal
company "Move It" whose truck is on the road where Joe falls down the manhole.
It seems plausible that the "Move It" removals business could be connected to the "Ship It"
delivery company which had a truck parked outside the antiques store in the fourth Toy Story movie.
"Ship It" first appeared in the Toy Story of Terror short where a courier
working for the company was picking up packages from the Sleep Well Motel.
And there's a deep-cut Disney easter egg in this scene via the name "Retlaw" on this van.
This is a reference to "Retlaw Enterprises", originally known as "Walt Disney Miniature
Railroad", a company set up by Walt Disney himself in 1950 to manage the rights to
his name and a couple of attractions at Disneyland that belonged to him.
"Retlaw" is the name "Walter" spelled backwards.
A regular easter egg in many of Pixar's movies is the Chinese food box which makes at least
two appearances in Soul. You can see it on the
hedge fund manager's desk here. The box has a very specific design and,
among other films, has appeared in Soul director Pete Docter's Inside Out and Monsters Inc;
while its first appearance was in A Bug's Life where it was called the "Chinese Cabinet
of Metamorphosis" by Manny. "The Chinese Cabinet of Metamorphosis."
You can spot the same takeout box design later on when Joe crashes into a garbage can and his
hand gets stuck in a discarded box. The existence of recurring objects like
this box in so many Pixar films like Soul is evidence for the Pixar Theory
that all of the animation studio's films exist in a single connected universe.
And I've made a separate full video explaining exactly how Soul proves that theory correct.
There's a card here, plus there's a link to watch it in the video description.
By the way, I enjoyed how Mr Mittens the therapy cat brought lots of physical
comedy to the New York part of the movie, and the Art of Soul book reveals that the name
of the cat therapy service he works for is called "Feline Better", a play on 'Feeling Better'.
The Art of Soul book also reveals the meaning behind the symbols on Twenty Two's pass.
Twenty Two is apparently a "moody, extroverted cynic who's extremely punctual".
I can thoroughly recommend checking out The Art of Soul book to appreciate and learn much more
about many of Soul's early concepts and how they progressed to their final version in the film.
I'll add a link to where you can get the book in the video description below.
Now, if you didn't sit through the credits for Soul, you might have
missed out on a little post-credits scene in which Terry pops up for a final time:
"Hi! Movie's over.
Go home!" This is a joke
in the spirit of the post-credits scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off and also Deadpool
which itself riffed on the John Hughes film, and it's clearly intended for the traditional
cinema experience, so it doesn't work quite so well watching at home on Disney Plus,
though it is a fun little reward for those who watch right to the end.
Now, what other easter eggs or cool details did you spot in Soul?
And how do you rate it among your favourite Pixar movies?
If you enjoyed this, then a thumbs-up is hugely appreciated!
Next tap left to see how Soul proves the Pixar Theory that Boo from Monsters Inc travelled
back in time to become the witch in Brave or tap right for something else you're sure to like.
Thanks for watching and see you next time. Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!