I wasn't interested in it at all, but now I'm curious...
Is it fun?
Has a deep moral lesson?
What happens?

@cleric
I don't know if you want me to spoil it (based on your last question) but I'll be as vague as possible but not too vague.
1. Yes, it's fun. A little dark humor here (easy to miss if you're not paying attention) and there, but there's a lot more light hearted ones if that's not your sense of humor. It's reeeeaaaaalllly good for the entire family-- the kids get the funny cute jokes, while the adults get the lesson and the relatable scenes. It has a good mix of the "great before" (the land you see in the trailer) and on earth, so the settings are varied very nicely.

2. It has two deep moral lessons. I'll say it but it's a bit "spoilery". 1. What does life mean to you? 2. Is what you're after in life really what you want? (I hope I summed those up right!). It deals with so many existential themes, but it doesn't bombard you with them-- thank goodness. (Like, you won't end the movie questioning your life, you'll just appreciate it a little more/ see the beauty in it after the movie)

3. Uhhhhh, do you want me to tell you what happens? Get back to me/ @ me on this because I'm not sure if you want to know the end or hear a summary.

Other than those three points, the movie was simple, yet enjoyably complex (not too complex). Straight to the point, but poetic. (The pacing in the beginning, like the first 20 minutes felt a little off, but that's just my opnion. I think that's just a Pixar thing. The rest of it was fine pacing-wise and in general with everything else.)

@cleric
Clarification: when I said it deals with so many existential themes: I meant only 2-3, each one only appearing throughout the movie gradually.

I don't mind spoilers. I'd like to hear the summary, to tell you the truth; I don't know if I'll get to watch it anytime soon, so spoilers would be fine!

@cleric
Okay, so joe gardner is the main character. He loves music, specifically jazz, and he plans on becoming a professional musician. His mother doesn't approve of this however.

So, early in the movie, he gets a gig of a lifetime and is so excited he doesn't watch where he's going and falls down a hole because the manhole wasn't there. (As seen in the trailer).

Technically, he's supposed to die, but he defies death and breaks free. He then finds himself in The Great Before-- a place people come from before being born. They gain their personality, their ambitions, but most importantly their "spark." The spark is left up to interpretation of what it means, but I like go think it means the person is ready for earth because they're ready to live.
He meets a couple of figures, which are all named "jerry". (Tbh, they all look SLIGHTLY the same, do the same thing, so logically making the characters all have the same name was the smart thing to do.)

These figures are what inspire souls to become ready to live life while also helping them find themselves in the Great Before.

@cleric
The Jerry's think he's a mentor and ask him to join the seminar. (A mentor is someone who has done something fantastic in their life and brought change to humanity). So, in order for Joe Gardner to not be sent back to the Great Beyond (death), he pretends to be this great psychologist.

The mentors are supposed to inspire the new souls and help them find that spark so they'll be ready for earth (without a spark, they can't be born).

So, Joe attends the seminar and is paired up with soul 22. Soul 22 is a soul that doesn't want to live and she doesn't care for it.

She quickly finds out Joe isn't the psychologist and that he is... Joe Gardner. They make a deal after finding this out: joe will help her find her spark, and take her spark to get back to his body.
*on earth, he's in a comma.
And for soul 22, she can skip out on living. Perfect, right?

So, he takes her to the hall of everything and they try our some stuff.

None of this works, and 22 doesn't get her spark.

A jerry comes by and tells Gardner, still believing he's the great psychologist, that 22 is a hard soul to inspire and that he has tried his best but his time is up. So gardner asks if they can have more time, the jerry obliges because 22 seems enthusiastic, and the two of them escape through some portal to another part of the great before.

In the area that they're in (forgot the name of it), there are souls he are living. These souls that are living appear in this area because they are "in the zone".

"In the zone" meaning where the entire world seems to not exist and it's just you and whatever you're doing. You've got your head in the game, and nothing can stop you.
Well, according to this movie, being in the zone is good and bad. You have living souls that are in the zone, playing their hearts out on a piano, singing and dancing with joy. And then you have living souls here that are in the zone for negative reasons, like ones that are constantly obsessed with their reputation that that's all they think about and they can't think about anything else.

((I'm starting to wonder if you wanted a long or short summary...))

So 22 and Joe find this guy who is living, and constantly in the zone. He offers to help return Joe to his body and he does just that. except 22 accidently goes with Joe and she ends up in his body and Joe ends up inside a cat's body (which turns out to be the hopsitals therapy cat. Remember, he was in a coma for a bit).

Skipping sooooo many details:
Joe and 22 go around, trying to find the guy who put them in the wrong bodies. (Remember, the guy is alive but he was "in the zone" which is a realm in itself that is in between the spiritual and real world).

Meanwhile, just like the jerry's there's another figure called Terry that is supposed to keep things in order. Terry is in charge of keeping count of the people who have died and are supposed to be dead. He finds out Joe cheated death and goes out looking for them in the real world.
22, while in Joe's body, experiences life for herself. She's skeptical at first, but she gets used to it after.
After running around, they find the man and he tells them to meet him at 6pm. Joe needs to be at his gig by 6:30, so that's cutting it close.
A couple of quick details.
For his gig, Joe's gets a suit. It rips, and he has to go to his mom for help. She realizes the suit is for a gig and they argue a bit. 22, being Joe, can still understand Joe, who is the cat, so she asks him what she should say as him. Joe speaks to his mom, by telling 22 what to say (because she is him) and his mom realizes how important the gig is to him. He feels like without being a professional musician his life was all for nothing because he loves music and that's what he's striving for. It's also something his dad taught him, and he loves music because of his father (which I think passed before the movie started). His mom understands and lends him his dad's suit.

It wasn't important to mention until now, but joe is a part time music teacher. He was shown teaching it at the beginning and he has one student that's really good at it but is made fun of because of how good she is at it. She comes to his house, and tells him she wants to quit.
22, as joe, talks to her, and learns to appreciate life and music a bit more. She tells the girl to continue because it's her passion, and stops the girl from auitting. .

I FORGOT what happens, but Joe ends up needing a hair cut after 22 tries to cut his hair. He goes to the barber shop and they all have an interesting conversation because 22 is talking instead of Joe.
*this scene was important because joe sees that he has a life, but other's have lives too. His barber mentions that it was nice for joe to talk about something else rather than music. He also appreciated that joe cared to ask about his life as well.

After they leave, 22 and joe go to the guy to get back into their respective bodies. 22 doesn't want to leave Joe's body because she lives life now, and runs off. Joe chases her, still as a cat, but they are both caught by terry.
Terry returns to the two to the great beyond, but they realize 22 has gotten her spark. She now has a pass to earth.

Only one soul can use to the earth pass and 22 argues she wants to live. Joe argues he has to go back and play at the gig to become a professional musician or he feels his life was pointless.
Honoring their deal, 22 reluctantly gives (she threw it at him actually), the earth pass fo joe and he goes back. he plays the gig, he realizes it wasn't what he wanted, and goes home.

He sits at his piano, realizes he has some things in his pocket, and sees all sorts of items. These are items 22 has collected as joe that made her love life. (A spool of thread, lollipop, pizza crust XD, and a thing from a tree-- forgot the name of it).

He plays the piano, to get into "the zone" and uses it to fo to the great beyond. He finds out 22 is has become a corrupted soul and thinks she isn't worthy of living and falls into a low state of mind and emotion.

Keep

[It didn't go through, dangit].

Keep in mind, no one could convince 22 that she wanted to live and they gave up on her.
Joe finds 22 and encourages her, telling her she can live and she'll be great at it. She listens and becomes uncorrupted.
Joe gives her the earth pass and comes to terms that he had cheated death and cheated 22 out of life.
He helps 22 cross over and she goes onto be born.

The Jerry's, seeing joe has learned to appreciate life, see more to life, realize what he did was wrong, and that he has helped 22 want to be born decide he should get a second chance.
They allow him to return to his body because they are inspired by him, and the movie ends with the message of life not being about purpose, but about what it means to you.
The movies also leave the mystery about what happens to 22 and what becomes of her, and the audience also doesn't know how joe spends his life.

@cleric
I must say that I am bad at summaries, and ik what I just wrote may make the plot of the movie seem like a train wreck of a mess, but it was a good movie-- it was missing something though. Like it doesn't resonate with it's audience, but the messages do.

That summary was great; I thought the movie was actually just going to have another political or "power of friends" message, but this shows it's ALOT different...
-
There's a bunch of stuff that seems relatable in it, surprisingly. I never expected alot of it, including the concept of "the zone".. I can't explain it, but that, and when it was revealed that Jerry couldn't.. or rather speak about anything else than music in before... It stuck out..
Now I'm even more curious, thanks for telling me. I would've honestly skipped out on seeing the movie, before, there's barely anything--any media that tries making you think outside of specific box.

@cleric your welcome. I enjoy movies that try very hard to not follow cliche and makes you think. this Is defineltey one of them, but doesn't make you think too much.