Elemental – Review
109 Minutes, Rated PG
Written by John Hoberg, Kat Likkel, and Brenda Hsueh
Directed by Peter Sohn
**NOTE: You can read Mark’s review below, then listen or watch as he and Ryan discuss the film along with last week’s other big release: The Flash. Remember, though, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
Synopsis:
Disney and Pixar’s Elemental introduces Ember, a tough, quick-witted and fiery young woman, whose friendship with a fun, sappy, go-with-the-flow guy named Wade challenges her beliefs about the world they live in.
It’s nice to see that Pixar hasn’t quit giving us short films before their feature films. I won’t spoil it for you, but I’ll tell you it’s called Carl’s Date, and if you’re like me, while you may find it endearing, you might also — as I was– be a bit upset by the premise.
I’ll leave it at that.
Elemental arrives in a bit of a difficult spot for Disney/Pixar. After the disappointing performance of 2022’s Lightyear, plus the abysmal live-action Pinocchio, plus the not-at-all-blockbuster performance of the live-action The Little Mermaid, it feels like Disney animation (to include Pixar) really needs a hit. A big one.
Here’s what I can tell you about Elemental:
- The animation if fantastic when it comes to Fire. Ember and her people are beautifully animated, living fire, and the light effects when her glow is refracted or magnified is often simply gorgeous.
- The Water animation is good enough, but the problem here is that the bodies of water (sea, canals, etc.) feel more like water than Wade’s Water people do.
- The Water folks overall, but Wade especially, seem very infantalized. Wade speaks like a liquid Forrest Gump sometimes, and his entire family is overly emotional, even for Pixar characters, breaking into tears at the slightest provocation.
- The story is simplistic, but that makes it easier for kids to follow and shouldn’t upset adult viewers very much, if at all.
Okay, bullet points aside, what else can I say?
As a story about immigrants and immigrant families, to include generational responsibility that borders on guilt for later generations (stay or go? do what I want or carry on the family business?), Elemental is pretty effective. The ostracization and segregation of the Fire people is understandable in this world but makes its wider point well enough.
The voice work is solid, with each character feeling like a unique yet recognizable individual.
I would also like to marginally spoil that the meet-cute from the trailer doesn’t actually happen in this movie. The subway bump between Ember and Wade simply doesn’t happen. They meet in a completely different way, which provides the impetus of the entire plot.
Overall, I was surprised by Elemental, not least because of Disney’s recent track record. It is a solid entry by Pixar, and while it’s not “top shelf” Pixar, it’s certainly a step above recent offerings from its parent company.
Will it be the “big” hit Disney needs? That’s up to the audience.
I say check it out if you need a family movie instead of a lot of action this weekend.
Elemental hits theaters on Friday, June 16 and stars Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Ronnie del Carmen, Shila Ommi, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Catherine O’Hara, Mason Wertheimer, and Joe Pera.
And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.
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