Elemental: A Cute Romance With Surprising Depth

Pixar was the cutting edge of technology when they started making animated films using computer-generated images in 3D. As more studios like Dreamworks, Illumination, Blue Sky (now a subsidiary of Disney), and even Disney Animation moved into this space, Pixar made storytelling what set it apart and that carries through into Elemental. While Elemental
has some interesting visual flair, the movie's real heart comes from the romance at the film's core.

Elemental follows a little fire person named Ember who works in her father’s shop. Her life is turned upside down when a city inspector made of water named Wade accidentally ends up in the pipes and discovers a bunch of violations that would lead to the business being shut down. She has to team up with Wade to save the shop.

The most engaging part of the film comes from the two major narrative lines, namely the romance between Wade and Ember and Ember’s conflict about her role in her future. Without getting too deep into spoilers, the conflict that Ember feels regarding her role within her family and the business intertwines nicely with the relationship that develops between her and Wade. Her inner conflict being part of both aspects of the story is crucial to her development and makes the romance feel more mature without pushing the boundaries of what would be family-friendly.

The art style is also what sets this apart from some of Pixar’s other more recent films. While the faces do still look distinctly Pixar, the visual language of the various elements and how they interact with each other is cool to watch and worth seeing on a large screen. There are sequences that move into hyper-realistic territory that, when meshed with the cartoony nature of the film, work very well.

If there is a negative to the movie, it would be that on a more macro level, some of the messaging gets lost in an effort to streamline and put more attention on the romance at the core of the film. There is the undercurrent of the immigrant story and as such there are the preliminary levels of generic racism that go along with that, however, the movie never goes deeper. That said, there are sequences where this bleeds through to the surface, but they just seem jarring like they’re from a different movie when they happen.

All of that said, Elemental is a perfectly serviceable movie from Pixar that puts it among some of its more recent higher-tier entries like Soul and Turning Red. Considering the studio is coming off of Lightyear, this is a strong return to form for them. The visuals and sound mix make it worth seeing in a large theater on opening weekend, which may be harder to do since it is splitting the premium formats with The Flash.

Final Rating: 8.5/10

Elemental opens on Friday, June 16th, 2023.