I gave this film 4.5 stars, and this article mainly wants to explain what the missing half star is.
"Spiritual Journey" itself is an excellent film, and Pixar is still able to constantly surpass itself, and its abundant creativity is astounding. In terms of subject matter, it is very similar to the sister stories of "Inside Out", which together can form a "creative chicken soup universe". In terms of visual presentation, the imagination of the other side of life and death is very much in line with my expectations, much better than "Inside Out" and "Dream Quest". In the story, the goals and motivations of the characters are very clear, but it is not easy to guess the direction of the story, which is a very clever design. In terms of theme, "Live Everyday" is very suitable for the current global heat and cold, and the way of presentation is so flattering and unique, it should be said that it can make me full of joy.
However, when I watched this film, I didn't have the resonance like a bell.
And I know where the problem is.
"New York taste" is too Chong.
The "New York flavor" here is actually "American elite flavor".
This time, Pixar once again boldly challenged the restoration of the real city. It should be said that it is a very respectable technical attempt. This kind of restoration has been done twice by Pixar in my impression, once in Paris in "Food Story", and once in Mexico City in "Dream Travel". But why didn't the "Parisian" and "Mexican" in those two films make me feel rushed? Because their themes of "food" and "undead" are deeply bound to these two cities, or to say that they have left Paris and Mexico, the themes of these two films have lost the soil they cultivated.
But "Spiritual Journey" is different, its theme is too "universal". It's far from talking about jazz - that's just the entry point, it's about "the value of life from the perspective of life and death". And when the protagonist enters the "other world" after experiencing "life and death", "New York flavor" also invades that world with the protagonist. "Soul cultivation" is like an "early education class" in a highly capitalized society. The choice of "mentor" is also American-style elite values represented by New York values - even the understanding and interpretation of "diversity" is also American-style. The "diversity" in the elite's perspective - you see that the lost soul must be a Wall Street person; you see that the "captain" who can achieve access to the other side through meditation is still a hippie in New York; you listen to the voice of No. 22, Where is the "nasty middle-aged woman" she mocks herself, the most classic image of Tina Fey is Liz Lemon, a New York nerd. A more noteworthy detail is that the Earth appears many times in the film, and each time it appears, we see the east coast of the United States. New York is indeed the center of the world, but the global village is not really a village after all, and New York is not the only crossroads in this village.
I don't reject New York at all, nor do I reject black people, jazz, or even the values of this film. But I believe that if the setting depicted in the film really exists, I, a native Chinese, will be at a loss in that other world.
This is the reason why I can't have a strong resonance, and this is also the reason why I can't regard "Spiritual Journey" as another perfect masterpiece.
In other words, I don't think the film's forcing the "New York" element into it was a good decision to help the thematic expression.
Just mentioned, Pixar hardly ever describes a real city in detail, except for the thematic necessity provided by "Food Story" and "Dream Travel". The metropolis in "The Incredibles", the city of trash in "Robots", the demolition in "Up", the relocation in "Inside Out", the urban adventure in "Toy Story", they are all just born The living place in the animator's imagination. The less the signified, the more the signifier, and we can naturally take the position of the protagonist and start a strange adventure with the protagonist.
And this time, I'm really a little far from the "New Yorker" life, and it's nothing more than a delicious bowl of New York chicken soup.
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