Elemental Review

Elemental is the 27^th feature film from Pixar. This film sees Pixar make a romance story against the backdrop of immigration and racism.

Ember Lumen (Leah Lewis) is a second-generation Fire Person living in Element City. Ember’s father, Bernie (Ronnie del Carmen) wants her to take over the family store, but Ember has a fiery temper. Ember’s temper leads her to flood the family store’s basement and invertedly meet Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie), a water element and city inspector.

Elemental has become notorious because of its underwhelming box office performance in North America. Pixar has lost its lustre since its films haven’t been the critical and commercial juggernauts they used to be. Turning Red and Luca were made into Disney+ exclusives, much to the annoyance of Pixar employees, and last year’s Lightyear was one of Pixar’s weakest films. The studio is set to pivot toward making sequels. One of their next films is going to be Inside Out 2 and a fifth Toy Story film is currently in development.

Elemental has been compared with Zootopia. This was due to both films looking at prejudice in a multicultural city. In Zootopia, foxes were distrusted because they were seen as sneaky con artists and herbivores were perceived as weak and meek. In Elemental Fire People were discriminated against and feared since they had potentially destructive power.

Elemental had a great opening that showed Ember’s parents arriving in Element City and suffering from discrimination from the first moment. The customs officer couldn’t understand what they were saying and made them change their names. They struggled to find an apartment because landlords didn’t want to rent to flammable people. Bernie developed a hatred for Water People since they were dangerous to fire people.

The opening was also great at showing the relationship between Ember and her father. Ember was the light of Bernie’s life. He loved her, taught her about the fire people’s traditions, and he was raising her to take over the store.

Elemental was influenced by the American experience. Bernie and Cinder’s (Shila Ommi) arrival in Element City was similar to many people arriving in New York. Bernie and Cinder getting their new names felt similar to Vito’s arrival in New York in The Godfather Part II. Element City was split into different sections based on different communities. Many American cities have a Little Italy and Chinatown. Firetown was built around Bernie’s store.

Ember’s family had to assimilate since they had to learn a new language, yet they wanted to keep traditions alive. They had their own religious customs and Bernie’s store allowed people to have an authentic Fire Person experience. Ember’s family could be compared to a first-generation Italian, Chinese, or Jewish family in America because of their distinct culture and customs. A nice little touch was Ember using the occasional Firish word when she spoke with her parents.

However, there was an issue with the racism metaphor in Elemental: there were genuine reasons for the elements to fear each other. Fire can be destructive; Fire People could set Earth people on fire and Fire People and Water People could kill each other. There should have been more integration and cooperation between the different communities who would get to experience each other’s cultures.

Another issue for the film was the central relationship. The point of the relationship was to show how Ember and Wade were different yet could finally enter into a romance. However, it was hard to believe they could be a couple since their personalities were so different. Despite Ember’s temper, she was made out to be too perfect. Her abilities were the most useful, she was creative and she was the driving force for the plot. Wade was an overly emotional boy who cried at a whim. His water abilities had little use in the film. Wade was meant to be a positive force who saw the best in people and tried to encourage others but his efforts weren’t as significant as Ember’s. It’s the type of film that would give reactionary Youtubers something to moan about.

Elemental did have a good amount humour and wit that made it fun to watch. I did chuckle because of the one-liners and the visual gags. Like any Pixar film, the animation was of a high standard, although the character designs were simple. The advantage of simple character designs is children can draw their own Elemental pictures.

Elemental worked best as a story about immigration and as a father-daughter relationship, rather than a star-crossed lover’s story. It was an adequate animated offering but Elemental was far from vintage Pixar.

Elemental saw the return of the Pixar Shorts, the first since Incredibles 2. Elemental was paired with Carl’s Date, a story about Carl from Up nervously preparing for his first date in years. It was charming and sweet, mainly due to the dog, Dug but it felt more like a short for Disney+ than for the cinema.