Pixar's groundbreaking project runs the gamut from teen dramedy to action epic, and is timelier than perhaps any of the studio's previous efforts.

Far from the metaphysical concepts of "Soul," Pixar's latest is a more straightforward and ultimately more human story of friendship and discovery.

“Soul,” if you allow it metatextual leeway, shows Pixar wrestling with questions becoming of the 25-year-old studio’s priorities and standards. But taken on its own terms, it’s also a serviceable, pretty funny, slightly ostentatious movie concerned with some of the most spiritual concepts a movie can possibly concern itself with.