REVIEW: Pixar’s ‘Elemental’ is a miss for the studio

Pixar movies can often turn on the water works or leave a person fired up when the credits roll. Surprisingly and disappointingly, “Elemental” doesn’t do either.

The studio’s latest film, “Elemental,” is set in a sprawling metropolis inhabited by beings made of air, water, plants and fire. Most of the different elements stick to their own kind, though, especially the fire people, who are the most recent immigrants to the city and reside in a more dilapidated part of town.

In their community, though, residents have found success, such as Ember (Leah Lewis) and her parents who operate a small convenience shop that she plans to take over. That plan hits a road block, though, when a water being named Wade who works for the city lets Ember know the shop isn’t up to code. However, in a twist of fate, the meeting actually brings the two together.

There’s an interesting concept at play in Pixar’s latest feature, with an entire city populated by beings of different elements which has led to a variety of prejudices and social hierarchies. However, the very concept that makes this film unique is what also makes it not work as well as one would hope.

First and foremost, it’s a concept that takes a big suspension of disbelief. Not to get too nit-picky with a fantasy setting, but this is a world that definitely has a lot of question marks based on how it exists and operates.

One wonders if this concept would be better suited for an animated short, which doesn’t require as much world building. Pixar has even done good short films with more fantastical, anthropomorphized beings, such as 2013’s “The Blue Umbrella.”

Perhaps a bigger issue, though, is how the concept undercuts some of the messages the film is trying to get across. The different elements on screen are clearly supposed to represent different ethnicities.

However, the way it is portrayed here, each element is a vague amalgamation of a group of ethnicities, cultures and so on. As a result, the portrayal of the various elements having different cultures and customs feels cheapened.

There’s also the fact that the elemental concept takes more of a center stage than even the film’s story and characters do. In other films from Pixar, there are unique concepts at play, but they are often secondary to what’s taking place on screen.

I didn’t love “Toy Story” because the protagonists were toys, I loved it because of the sprawling adventure and lovable characters. I didn’t appreciate “Luca” and “Turning Red” solely because of the fantasy concepts at play there, they were great because the characters’ coming of age stories were strong and heartfelt.

“Elemental,” meanwhile, feels like it wants a person to be intrigued and fascinated by this fantasy world and how the elements interact first, and appreciate the budding romance second. In that sense, it’s somewhat reminiscent of last year’s “Empire of Light,” a movie with a  lot of ideas and messages, but one where the characters and narrative were mostly lacking.

There are two intertwined central stories in “Elemental” and both are fairly run-of-the-mill. There’s the focus on Ember wanting to please her father with regard to the family business, and there’s her romance with Wade, which her dad wouldn’t particularly approve of. While they’re generic, though, Ember’s moments with Wade and her drive to please her family are at least sweet, which makes the movie somewhat watchable.

One just wishes the characters were a bit more than their standard archetypes. Ember is a hothead and Wade is a wet blanket, to the point that there’s not much interesting there. Although some of the romantic scenes show that the heart of the filmmakers were at least in the right place.

The one area where “Elemental” has no issues is in the animation. Not surprisingly, the movie from Pixar looks quite good, and there were some inventive things the animators did to visually entertain, such as how the fire peoples’ flames work and the fluid movement of the water populace.

“Elemental” has some cute moments and the animation is, as expected, top tier. However, the film feels lackluster in a lot of ways. It also has to be noted that it also feels derivative of works like “Zootopia,” which pulled off a similar idea much better. 2. out of 5.

Author: Matthew Liedke

Journalist and film critic in Minnesota. Graduate of Rainy River College and Minnesota State University in Moorhead. Outside of movies I also enjoy sports, craft beers and the occasional video game. View all posts by Matthew Liedke