From the very beginning of Pixar’s Soul, 22 — a soul who refuses to come down to Earth — is cynical. She hates the idea of inhabiting a body or finding her inspiration, instead being content with spending eternity in the “great before,” a space meant to prepare souls for their human lives. Viewers don’t really get a sense of why she feels that way — but that’s about to change in the upcoming animated short 22 vs. Earth.
“I didn’t want the short to be a mirror of what she was like in the feature,” says director Kevin Nolting, who also served as lead editor on Soul. “In looking at what the story would be, the interesting thing for me is what makes her who she is in the feature. This is one of those incidents. In the beginning she was one…