soul movie questions for music education

Soul Movie Questions for Music Education Elementary & Middle

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This is a set of 40 questions with key and movie worksheet for Disney/PIXAR's "Soul" movie . Some questions have multiple questions to go along with a song however (so there are actually more than 40 questions).

You can pick and choose questions to make your own sheet based on the difficulty you need it to be and your students' prior knowledge.

Questions include but are not limited to: dynamics, mood, tempo, meter, genre, jazz, play, beat, scat singing, records, improvisation, orchestra, etc.

Created in Microsoft Word so it's easily editable.

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Down The Hobbit Hole Blog

7 Lessons from Soul + Discussion Questions and Parent Review

7 Lessons from Soul + Soul Discussion Questions written by the Elf and the Ent . This post contains affiliate links, you can find out more on our policies page or in the disclaimer at the bottom of the blog.

Know Before You Watch the movie Soul

Quick summary of the movie soul:, -is soul appropriate-, -plot/story of the movie soul-, -character development in soul-, soul discussion questions, final thoughts.

Movie : Soul Rating : PG Run time : 1 hr. 30 mins. Genre : Family, Comedy Age suggested : 5 and up Release Date : December 25th, 2020 Where to Stream It? : As of December 25th, it is streaming exclusively to Disney Plus subscribers at no additional cost. Themes : Purpose, Drive, Beauty of Life and Music Warnings : Main plot revolves around a character who has died, slight toilet and crude humor, minimal scary images. And, as with any Pixar/Disney movie, have those tissues handy.

Joe Gardener is passionate about Jazz but not as excited about his teaching gig. He is just about to fulfill his lifelong dream when something goes terribly wrong and he ends up in the Soul world. He’s got to figure out how to help someone else as well as himself before he can get back to earth.

While the movie goes to incredibly deep and sometimes confusing depths in it’s plot, it’s a beautiful watch for the whole family! This movie is one that will naturally spark great conversations about your passions, differences, dreams, and hopefully even about your Creator.

Keep reading for our parent review of soul and 7 lessons from soul…

Parent Review of Soul *Minimal Spoilers*

Besides a couple of crude (but fairly innocent) jokes, there isn’t much inappropriate in the movie. The movie does deal a lot with the concept of death and the afterlife, so be prepared to discuss this with your kids. There are a few image that might be a little scary for younger viewers- namely the lost souls- , but not nearly as scary as in most Disney/Pixar movies. And while younger viewers might be easily bored by the movie, I would not say that it’s inappropriate or very scary.

You can also get plushies for Joe here and 22 here !

The Story of Soul goes through several different twists and turns while having a consistent through line that lasts the entire movie. It may get a little complicated for younger viewers as it goes in and out of the Soul world. This is compensated for by the art style and design as the people and surroundings look very different in each world, which makes it a little easier to follow. Both styles are absolutely fantastic, balancing very well between cartoon and realism. (I loved this article by Crosswalk that talks about the fact that you might not be able to answer all of your or your kids questions about the plot of the movie- but there is still a TON to discuss!

Joe’s journey through the afterlife is absolutely wonderful. The plot follows him as he must learn what it truly means to live while also mentoring a being who has never understood why anyone would ever want to live on earth. Although not quite as emotional as other Pixar movies (which makes it more appropriate for whole family viewing), Soul is filled with just as much heart and passion. The plot is boldly complex, but not one that lost my kids or myself in the process.

Joe and 22 are polar opposites at the beginning of the movie, and this provides a great backdrop for everything they go through. All of the characters, including the side ones, add so much depth to their respective worlds. The beings who are in charge of the soul world come of as completely different creatures than humans while still showing all the human like qualities. Perhaps the most heartbreaking characters are the “lost souls” because unfortunately they can be the most relatable for adults.

During a year when so much racism has been brought out into the sunlight, it’s great to see a leading family that’s Black and positive, happy, Black life stories. As a teacher, I really cannot stress the depth and importance of representation. It really does matter to kids. Not only does the movie do it well onscreen, but the cast and movie makers are diverse as well- and it’s wonderful!

Overall, the characters in Soul make for a great movie that simultaneously drags adults into the plot while remaining goofy and silly enough for the younger viewers.

Keep reading for our Lessons from Soul and Soul discussion questions.

7 Lessons from Soul **SPOILERS Beyond This Point**

Another line to tell you that there are SPOILERS ahead!!

1) It’s the little things which make life beautiful

From the taste of pizza to the leaves of trees, there are so many things in our life that we really do find lovely that we have stopped appreciating. It is important to be intentional about taking the time to rediscover these things.

2) There’s always time to find your spark

22 shows us that there is always time to find your spark. She seemingly has been in the soul world for several millennia and simply never found her spark for life. Her impressive mentor list is so much fun. But she finds out that there is still time for her.

3) Life is worth living

Although life can have many setbacks and difficulties, it is also filled with potential, love, beauty and glory. We have to pay attention and look for it. At the end of film, Joe doesn’t exactly know what he wants to do with his life, but he does know one thing: he wants to live his life.

**I’d like to note here as well that I think the film did a good job bringing up things that keep us stuck in life, like depression, in a kid friendly, but also responsible way. The stuck, or lost, souls in the movie can’t just shake off whatever is literally plaguing them. They have to have help. And reader, if you’re stuck, now is the time to ask for help from a counselor or doctor- even reaching out to a trusted mentor or friend!**

4) Our different passions make us and life beautiful.

There is no one thing that gives everyone a spark, or that brings you to the plane between eternity and earth. And we don’t always understand each others.

Positive representation of diverse characters is important. I love that the lead in this movie was an Arts centric Black man with a cast of strong supportive females behind him. And that the secondary lead was voiced my a strong female. (There is also room her to discuss gender fluidity and that people all have souls and are all just people if it’s something you want to dive into with your kids after viewing.)

5) Our positive and negative words IMPACT people.

Joe’s mothers words stick with him in ways she didn’t intend. When he expresses that, there’s a beautiful moment of positive impact as well. Students talk about how much Joe has impacted their lives, even helping them get through school. The leaders of the souls are constantly working to inspire. And, in one of the more heartbreaking scenes, we see the words of past mentors that 22 has joked about as she really feels them- they torment her.

One of life’s most important lessons. Your life matters, and how you use your life and your words impacts others in ways you will never fully know.

6) You and your life are more than your spark and purpose.

Your spark and those moments of feeling your purpose are important and amazing. But life is about a lot more than those plateaus. Joe’s afraid that he’s wasted his life but when he looks back, he sees how beautiful and wonderful his life has been. And he’s been given the chance to appreciate all those little moments again.

There are lots of different things that can make us happy and help us bring joy to the world. Life is amazing! I would discuss with my kids again how God made each of us unique.

7) Achieving a dream, or starting a new year, doesn’t fix your life.

When one of the characters finally reaches what they’ve been wanting to get to- it’s not as fulfilling as they were expecting. It reminds me of Tangled when Rapunzel finally gets to see the lanterns fill up the night sky. Something she’s wanted for years. But it doesn’t solve her problems and now that she’s achieved her dream, what’s left? She enjoyed it, took stock of what was important, (got kidnapped again) and started to dream again. What a marvelous lesson (besides the kidnapping drama) as we go into a year that we’re collectively putting so much weight on. We can hope for a lot of wonderful, life-changing, positive moments in 2021- but it’s not going to heal all our underlying wounds by itself.

What did you take from this movie?! Keep reading for our Soul Discussion questions!

• Who was your favorite character in the movie and why?
• Why do you think God give us different personalities when we’re born?
• People have different things that allow them to enter the Soul world momentarily. What brings you enough happiness to enter that in between plane in the Soul world?
• What is something simple in life that you underappreciate? (If younger kids: what things do you like that you do everyday?)
• 22 finds herself surrounded by negative comments that were made to her. How does she overcome this negativity? How do you or can you overcome negativity?
• Who are you a positive voice for? Who can you be a positive voice for in the future?
• What is something you can appreciate in life now more than before after seeing this movie?
• What is the most amazing thing you’ve ever seen?
• What is one of your dreams that you would like to accomplish?
• What’s something that God’s gifted you with that feels like one of your sparks?

While it would have been amazing to see on the big screen, I can’t think of a better movie to watch at home with your whole family before the start of the new year. We would highly encourage you to watch this one WITH your kids and take some time to talk about your sparks and discuss happy moments and dreams together afterwards. You may no be able to answer every question about the story or plot- but don’t miss the amazing opportunity this movie provides us in talking about how amazing life and people are.

Thanks for checking out our Lessons from Soul and Soul Discussion Questions. Before you go- check out these other posts :

– Parent review of Coco : A little boy with a love of music finds himself celebrating Dia De Muertes in an unexpecting way.

– 5 Lessons from Frozen 2 : the sequel to Disney’s big hit that dives further into the fantastical world of Arendelle

– 3 Lessons From Trolls: World Tour : The worlds of music collide as rock music tries to take over all of the Troll worlds

– 3 Lessons from Spies in Disguise : Tom Holland and Will Smith team up in this great movie about a bumbling engineering genius and world renowned spy.

Down The Hobbit Hole Blog and this Soul discussion questions, Lessons from Soul and Soul review post uses affiliate links, we only link products we think you’ll like and you are never charged extra for them. As Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. We also use cookies to gather analytics and present advertisements. This allows us to keep writing discussion questions and telling ridiculous dad jokes.

31 thoughts on “7 Lessons from Soul + Discussion Questions and Parent Review”

I love reading your reviews, and this parent review for Soul and the lessons from the movie are terrific. I only have so much time to watch movies. This looks very worthwhile!

This Soul Parent Review sounds quite interesting. It is good to know that it is appropriate for children. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for your review! I have been thinking of watching this movie, and now I feel like I really want to! 🙂

I really enjoyed reading your review. We plan to watch Soul tomorrow night since it will be our last day having Disney= and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve seen a lot of positive reviews about this movie so I’m hoping we all enjoy it.

thanks for sharing. I had not been interested in seeing the movie but maybe I’ll take a peek.

p.s. great discussion questions

Thanks so much for the compliment! I wasn’t super excited about watching it at first, but I’m so glad I did! Hope you enjoy it!

Soul is one of my favorite animated movies of the past 10 years. I watched it as soon as it came out on Disney+, and it blew me away. There really is a lot to be learned from it.

I agree! Definitely deserves to be on top 10 lists! Thanks for stopping by and commenting 🙂

My three kids AND my husband and I all loved this movie. Of course, they kids loved it for all the reasons that kids normally love Pixar movies, but my husband and I actually took quite a lot away from its message, too.

Yes!! So many good messages!! I’m so glad that you all enjoyed it!! 🙂

One of the reasons I love Soul so much is that it teaches such valuable lessons to both children and adults. Kids aren’t the only ones who need refreshers on so many parts of life.

That’s so true!! Kid’s definitely are not the only ones who can take away some great lessons from the movie. It reminded me of so many things, but especially to remember to value the things I think are mundane.

I haven’t seen Soul yet, but it sounds like it deals with some complex themes while still being entertaining for the kids. I love your discussion guide for after the film!

It really does deal with a lot while also being super entertaining! Thanks for the complement- hope it’s useful!

We have seen Soul three times since it came out. I love the message and the delivery. It was perfect!

We agree! So glad you loved it too!

A lot of people seems to be impressed with Disney Plus and it’s content, and I have been a bit… naah, not right now, my kid dont need more movies, but you’ve got a great way of watching with the kids 🙂 I loved reading your review!

That absolutely makes sense! We understand that! It is wonderful to watch some of them with the kids. Thanks so much for the compliment and for stopping by to comment 🙂

I’ve seen so many mixed reviews on the film. But I do also think it’s a great way to start discussions on death and the afterlife. There’s not another film like it, so I think that’s why many people are undecided on watching.

That makes sense! It is such a great way to discuss big life topics for sure!

I really enjoyed watching this with my daughter. It is nice to watch a movie that has so many wonderful messages!

I absolutely agree! Thanks for commenting 🙂

It sounds really interesting and I enjoy a good comedy these days at home. Thanks for letting us know about this and I will bookmark this one for the weekend 🙂 Knycx Journeying

I hope that you get to watch it and enjoy it! Thanks for stopping by

That was a super interesting review of the movie Soul. I think I will give it a shot with my girlfriend.

Thanks for the compliment. I hope that you get to watch it and enjoy it!

I have never seen movie Soul, but I love family comedies. Thanks for this review!

Thanks for stopping by!! It really is a great movie for the whole family.

Many people recommended me to watch this animated movie. And I hear that it’s truly great. Now you confirm that again in your post. Ok, I will go to the cinema tomorrow for this.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you enjoy the movie!!

I loved reading your review. So well-executed… Although I rarely watch movies these days but I’ll take a peek.

Comments are closed.

Lesson Plans

Disney & pixar’s soul.

Grades: Grades 3-5

Subject Area: Social Studies, Music, and Language Arts

Made Possible By: Disney & Pixar

Ever wonder what makes you, YOU ? In Pixar Animation Studio’s all-new feature film Soul , Joe, a middle school band teacher, explores the answer to this question. Encourage your students to think about this question and celebrate their individuality.

The engaging activities inspired by the film introduce students to jazz and some legendary musicians who inspire Joe, and encourage kids to reflect on the movie’s central theme of self-discovery.

Click the images below to download the program.

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Soul 2020 Movie Guide: Questions + Activities Puzzles + Answers

Subject: English

Age range: 7-11

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

Last updated

2 April 2024

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Soul is an innovative and thought-provoking film that navigates the realms of jazz music, the pursuit of one’s passions, and existential questions about life’s purposes and the essence of the soul.

This product includes:

Questions 30 Short Questions and 30 Multiple Choice Questions to gauge understanding and encourage thoughtful discussion.

Varied activities a crossword puzzle and word search centered around key vocabulary from the movie; a compare and contrast exercise, a Drawing Activity that gives students the opportunity to express their interpretation to depict their own version, and a movie review assignment to cultivate critical thinking and personal insight.

An Answer Key for all questions and activities.

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Movie Interviews

'soul' creators on passion, purpose and realizing you're 'enough'.

Terry Gross

The Oscar-nominated Disney/Pixar film Soul centers on Joe (voiced by Jamie Foxx), a middle school band teacher who longs to be a jazz musician. Disney hide caption

The Oscar-nominated Disney/Pixar film Soul centers on Joe (voiced by Jamie Foxx), a middle school band teacher who longs to be a jazz musician.

The Oscar-nominated movie Soul tackles passion, purpose and the meaning of life — topics that aren't usually addressed in animated films.

The movie centers on Joe, a middle school band teacher who feels unfulfilled because his ambition is to be a full-time jazz musician. On the day he lands the biggest gig of his career, Joe nearly dies — but then gets the chance to return to his body if he can figure out the purpose of his life.

Pete Docter, who co-wrote and co-directed the film with Kemp Powers, says the film was inspired by the emotional turbulence he experienced after writing and directing Inside Out .

"Having ... so much success in [that] film, I found myself wondering: Why don't I feel like my life is all wrapped up and solved in a nice bow? Why didn't it fix everything?" Docter says.

It's All In Your Head: Director Pete Docter Gets Emotional In 'Inside Out'

Soul has generated success of its own. The film won the Golden Globe award for best animated picture, and is nominated for three Academy Awards. But Powers, who's also up for an Oscar for his adapted screenplay for One Night in Miami , says Soul is actually meant to challenge conventional notions of success and failure.

"We were trying to help not just Joe, but the entire audience, understand that it's not about winners or losers and that everyone's life has value," Powers says. "That was really a powerful driving force from the very beginning."

Docter says the film's message is that life has meaning that goes beyond personal ambition.

"The movie's aim is really to say that we're already enough," he says. "We all can walk out of the door and enjoy life without needing to accomplish or prove anything. And that's really freeing."

Interview highlights

On Pixar approaching Powers to work on the film

Powers: It is pretty funny, because obviously when I got the call from my agent that Pixar was interested, they were looking for a writer to help them with a project ... the first thing my brain said was, "Hmm, I'm guessing the story must have Black people in it." I know that that can sound cynical, but look, that's just the reality of this business, this industry. ... It wasn't very long ago — and when I say not very long ago, I'm talking just, like, three or four years ago — where it was very possible, if you happened to be white, to create and tell a story about anything you wanted to. And no one would so much as push you to even consult with people from that community, let alone invite them in and be partners.

In 'Soul,' Jon Batiste's Music Helps Bring Pixar's First Black Lead To Life

So while it's easy to kind of take the cynical road, I saw it more as a really interesting opportunity, because when I flew up to Pixar and I sat down and I saw the nuggets of what would become Soul , I really fell in love with the story that Pete was trying to tell. And it was a story that felt like it was about me, and it was a story that really wasn't about race. That was one of the things that really, really excited me about this. ... I tell people, yes, Soul is a film [where] the majority of the characters are Black, but it's not a "Black" film. We're trying to tell this universal story through the specific prism of a Black man. And I think that was a really bold choice that I was relishing an opportunity to try to execute.

On Powers' feedback to an early reel of Soul

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'soul' is a jazzy, joyful celebration of life.

Powers: In the early reels, [Joe] seemed like the least interesting person in the film. ... Part of it was, I think, because there had been such extreme caution and such a fear of doing things that might offend someone or upset someone, that instead there really hadn't been much done [on the character]. I didn't know anything about the guy. I didn't really know anything about his family. It seemed like Joe was just a very, very lonely man who didn't know anyone and had no friends. And so that just meant that his life had to be filled in. And, of course, it's just the nature of being at Pixar, it doesn't matter whether you're a director or a designer or an artist, you use your life as fuel. So it was very easy for me [to] say, "Oh, he's supposed to be a 45-year-old Black man from New York. What a coincidence! That's what I am!" [And then] to start filling in a lot of those gaps with my own personal experiences.

On researching depictions and beliefs about the soul for the film

Docter: I talked to priests and rabbis and experts in Islam, Hinduism, as many of the main religions as we could find, to just see how these different traditions look at the soul and the afterlife and the world beyond our bodily forms. What we found was that most of them have a lot to say about what happens after we die — but very few talk about what happened before. So that meant we were kind of free to make stuff up, which is my favorite place to be. ...

Joe's soul (right) is paired with 22, a lost soul voiced by Tina Fey. Disney hide caption

Joe's soul (right) is paired with 22, a lost soul voiced by Tina Fey.

If you ask, "What is the soul?" most of them talk about the soul being ethereal, vaporous, non-physical, invisible. We wanted to hint at all that in our design — not only of the souls themselves, but the world they inhabit. And actually, interestingly, the first draft of the film ... was a version entirely set in the "Great Before" [a fantastical place where new souls exist before they go to Earth]. There is no Earth-based stuff. It was all about observing life just through these memories and these visualizations of the world, trying to talk this other soul into going [to Earth]. But the more we developed it, the more we realized, if we're going to talk about what makes life worth living, we've got to go interact with it. We got to get our hands dirty — smell, taste, touch, all those things that a soul can't do.

On depicting "lost souls" in the film

Powers: Something that we discussed when making this film was that at different points in our lives and careers, we've all been ... "lost souls," based on our definition of it. Because when you find something you enjoy and you're passionate about and you actually are pretty good at it, it is so easy to take the extra step of hiding behind that thing and using it to not deal with so many other elements of life. That's why it was so important that when we introduced the idea of the lost soul — that someone could be lost — but then they could be found. ... I've definitely found myself, based on our own definition of it, [as] a bit of a lost soul, someone who — to avoid facing all different elements of life — just [loses] myself in my work.

On screening Soul for kids

Docter: On Soul , we got started to get worried, like, is this too much? Are kids going to be able to track this? So we brought in an audience full of kids. It was probably the second scariest screening, because they're quiet. Kids are quiet. They don't laugh a lot. So you're like, "Oh, we're dying! We're dying!" But we found over the years, like especially the first time they watch something, they're typically just sucking it all up and taking it in. ... But afterwards we ask them questions like, "Did you understand this?" And what seems to happen again [and] again is the parents will say, "This film was too complicated for kids. This is not appropriate for kids." And then the kid sitting right next to them will sit and explain the entire movie better than I could. They get everything. They're very smart.

Heidi Saman and Seth Kelley produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey adapted it for the Web.