Soul Christian Movie Review (2020)

Guidance: Talk Together

Soul is a thoughtful family film with gentle peril and mild language, but its biggest discernment issue is its imaginative picture of souls, purpose, and the afterlife outside a Christian framework. Many families may find it most useful as a conversation starter about where identity, meaning, and hope are truly found in Jesus Christ.

Why This Guidance Level

This film is not driven by harsh content, but it does build its story around a playful, emotionally powerful vision of souls, pre-earth existence, and purpose that can easily shape how children think about life after death and what gives life meaning. The main need here is not fear of graphic material, but careful conversation about how the film’s spiritual ideas differ from Christian hope in Christ.

Faith & Worldview Perspective

Soul warmly affirms that life has value, people matter more than achievement, and everyday gifts should be received with gratitude. Those are meaningful truths. At the same time, the film presents souls, purpose, and the afterlife through a speculative spiritual system rather than through God’s revelation. Meaning is treated largely as something discovered within experience and personal awakening, while Christian faith teaches that our identity and purpose are ultimately received from the God who made us and fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Parents may want to discuss the difference between enjoying a story’s themes and accepting its spiritual picture as true.

Truths Reflected

• Human life is precious and should not be wasted on selfish ambition alone.
• Relationships, gratitude, compassion, and perseverance matter more than personal success.

Tensions to Discuss

• The film imagines souls and the afterlife in a way that does not reflect biblical teaching about creation, death, and eternal hope in Jesus Christ.
• Purpose is framed mainly as personal discovery and fulfillment, which may conflict with the Christian view that our deepest purpose is to know, love, and glorify God.

Content & Discernment Markers

Occult & Spiritual Content

• The story centers on souls existing apart from bodies and moving through a whimsical spiritual realm tied to purpose and identity. This is imaginative fantasy, but it presents spiritual ideas outside a Christian understanding of death, the soul, and eternal hope in Christ. Parents may want to discuss what the Bible actually teaches about life after death.
• The film explores a soul’s ‘spark’ and a system where meaning is connected to inner discovery and readiness for earthly life. That may sound uplifting, but it can blur the difference between God-given purpose and self-defined purpose.

Sexuality & Relationships

• Sexual content does not stand out here. Relationships are framed around friendship, mentorship, family connection, and care for others.

Identity Themes

• A major thread asks what makes a life meaningful and whether a person’s worth depends on talent, success, or finding a special calling. This can open good family discussion, but it may also encourage children to tie identity too closely to feelings of purpose rather than to being made by God.

Violence & Intensity

• The story includes a non-graphic accident and the unsettling idea of a man’s soul being separated from his body. The tension is more existential than violent, but younger children may find the near-death setup and afterlife imagery troubling.
• There is light fantasy peril and comic body-related chaos rather than graphic injury. The emotional weight comes more from fear of losing life and purpose than from action violence.

Language & Humour

• Language is mild, with words and put-downs such as ‘crap,’ ‘idiot,’ ‘imbecile,’ and lines like ‘you ruin everything’ or ‘you have no purpose.’ The sharper concern is not profanity so much as the cutting tone in moments of frustration.

Other Content Notes

• The film includes emotionally heavy lines about meaninglessness, including ‘My life was meaningless.’ For sensitive children, that despair may land more strongly than the comedy around it. Parents may want to talk about where lasting hope comes from.
• The story’s emotional center pushes back against living only for achievement and invites viewers to notice ordinary gifts, beauty, and relationships. That can be a healthy corrective when discussed alongside gratitude to God.

Notable Moments

• Near-death setup: The story begins with a sudden accident that separates Joe’s soul from his body and launches the film’s spiritual premise.
• Existential despair: A line about life being meaningless gives the film a heavier emotional edge than many family animations.

  “My life was meaningless.”

• Purpose language: The film repeatedly returns to the idea that a person needs a ‘purpose’ or ‘spark,’ shaping its message about identity.

  “you have no purpose”

Discussion Prompts

• What gives a person value?: Does a person matter because they are talented or successful, or because God made them and loves them?
  • Biblical guidance: Scripture teaches that human worth begins with being made in God’s image, not with performance or achievement.
  • Scripture: Genesis 1:27, Psalm 139:13-14
• Purpose and calling: How is finding something you enjoy different from the deeper purpose God gives us?
  • Biblical guidance: Christians are called first to belong to Christ and walk in the good works God prepares, not merely to chase a personal dream.
  • Scripture: Ephesians 2:10, Colossians 3:17
• Life after death: How does the movie’s picture of souls and the afterlife differ from what the Bible says?
  • Biblical guidance: Christian hope is not built on a vague spiritual system but on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
  • Scripture: Hebrews 9:27, John 11:25-26, 1 Corinthians 15:20-22
• Hope versus meaninglessness: What should we do when someone feels like life has no meaning?
  • Biblical guidance: The Bible meets despair with the truth that our labor and our lives are not in vain in the Lord.
  • Scripture: Ecclesiastes 12:13, 1 Corinthians 15:58, Romans 15:13