By Matthew Moorcroft

Strong Recommendation

• Directed by Peter Sohn
• Starring Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Ronnie del Carmen, Catherine O’Hara
• PG

Pixar has had it rough the past couple of years haven’t they? Not necessarily entirely their fault though – there was a global pandemic that happened and moreso then any other genre family animation got crippled. And it couldn’t have happened at a worse time for the company, who were dealing with leadership change across the board and new directors coming in with brand new visions for the company and their now legendary output. After all, this is a studio that was once, and still is to an extent, heralded as the gold standard for moviemaking in Hollywood. And while they’ve been putting out triple A, top quality films over the past several years (Soul, Luca, and Turning Red all ranks as some of their most innovative, interesting films) time will tell if dumping them on Disney+ was a studio crippling decision.

For now, instead, we have Elemental, the first original Pixar in theaters since Onward (a film that got the brunt of the pandemic in it’s face), and it’s a doozy. Oh, I’m not talking quality wise – Elemental is about as good as you’d expect from the company, perhaps even better considering some of the mixed reception coming from it’s Cannes premiere initially – but subject matter wise Elemental is one of their more interesting films yet mainly due to what it tackles. Put your Zootopia similarities aside, this is less of a racism allegory then it is a story about immigration, second generation children growing up in two worlds, mixed identity, and the complicated nature of cultures intermingling.

The concept, which is tried and true Pixar, involves the personification of elements – specifically that of air, earth, fire, and water. Unlike something like Inside Out which is set in our world but in the metaphysical, Elemental is basically a fantasy world built from the ground up. Each element has their own unique culture, customs, and groups, and fire in particular is it’s own beast. In fact, they are almost entirely immigrants from another country, which reminds us the numerous refugees that come into America over the century and forms their own little communities against being rejected by everyone else. I mean, of course you would want to stay alone when the world told you initially that “you aren’t wanted here, we can’t help you”.

But what happens with the second generation? You know, the generation of kids that grow up in a country and learn it’s language and now have a mix of cultures? What is their heritage? That’s mostly the question Elemental is asking, and it’s clearly a personal one for Peter Sohn, who himself is a second generation son of Korean immigrant parents. Even if the genders are reversed, Ember feels very much like Sohn himeslf – trapped between what she wants, what she expects of herself, and what society expects of her. And it’s up to Wade, our lovable male co-lead who comes crashing into Ember’s life via a somewhat complicated plot mechanism (the only real “big” issue with Elemental) to not necessarily help her realize that, but to instead give her the boost.

It’s the little moments here that make the relationship work. The glances at each other, the bonding over moments and shared connection rather then big displays. There is an authenticity to Leah Lewis’ and Mamoudou Athie’s fantastic vocal performances that make you believe in this relationship. And while it hits some of the rom-com cliches we’ve come to expect – it’s definitely not trying to do anything new with the concept – it hits them in the right beats and knows how to get the audience going with it. And once it does hit the climax it works wonders, leaving you a puddle along with the rest of the audience. Classic Pixar magic.

It helps it’s astonishing to look at. It’s not the revolutionary artistry of Across the Spider-Verse but it’s still a gorgeous, impossibly beautiful movie in it’s colours, it’s movement, and design. It’s not just vibrant, it’s lived in. The fire feels like fire you can touch, the water is realistic while remaining cartoony when it needs to. Pixar overhauled their animation systems for this film and you can tell – this is one of their bigger leaps in the past several years (most of the crazy great imagery is left out of the trailers too, a bizarre choice but one I understand) and deserves the big screen experience.

And that’s the best thing I can say about Elemental. It’s a film that deserves the big screen treatment, in spite of it’s faults. Even moreso then the overhated (if somewhat generic and disappointing in retrospect) Lightyear, this is a film that showcases not really Pixar at it’s best, but Pixar in what they do best – which is animation at it’s best and like nobody else is doing. While I would hesitate to call it one of Pixar’s best, it’s still great stuff and proof the studio is still cooking up strong material.