Elemental

Elemental

In a city where fire, water, land, & air residents live together, a fiery young woman & a go-with-the-flow guy will discover something elemental: How much they have in common.

  • Released: 2023-06-15
  • Runtime: 93 minutes
  • Genre: Animation, Family, Fantasy
  • Stars: Mamoudou Athie, Leah Lewis, Ronnie del Carmen, Shila Ommi, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Catherine O'Hara, Joe Pera, Mason Wertheimer, Ronobir Lahiri, Wilma Bonet, Matthew Yang King, Reagan To, Ben Morris, Alex Kapp, P.L. Brown, Jeff Lapensee, Jonathan Adams, Clara Lin Ding
  • Director: Peter Sohn
 Comments
  • sadmansakibayon - 12 June 2024
    Watch if you have enough time
    Nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, this is probably the worst film in the bunch (I still need to watch The Boy and the Heron and Robot Dreams, but I have high expectations for both). This is not to say it's a bad movie, because it isn't, but it's just ok, it's minor Pixar, but I suppose Disney/Pixar needs to be nominated every year for some reason.

    The story is a simple allegory. In a world where elements represent people, different elements (Earth, Air, Water, Fire) represent different peoples in that world. Into this town come a family of fires which stand for immigrants in our world, they have accents and own shops with "weird" spicy food. The voice actors for the three members of the fire family are representative of this: the main character, Ember, is played by Chinese-American Leah Lewis, her father by Filipino Ronaldo del Carmen, and her mother by Iranian-American actress Shila Ommi, basically covering a spectrum of Asian immigrants. As Ember starts developing a relationship with Wade (a Water elemental) things get complicated, both in logistical terms and family acceptance, as well as Ember questioning her future.

    It's a kind of story which has been told before, and the film brings little new to the basic idea. The animation is good, but not astounding, and the characters are the usual Pixar-charming. Again, it's an ok film, just nothing to write home about. Oh, and the logistics of how different elements interact was driving me crazy, that city must get destroyed every couple of months.
  • toomanykidschannels - 17 April 2024
    Congrats, Peter Sohn. Thanks for telling your story.
    HOT TAKE: Elemental is amazing. Yes, pun intended but I'm so serious here, folks; this was very done and I urge you to give it a fair shot. Elemental is a modern yet fantastical odyssey of romance and self-realization clashing with the weight of ethnic and generational expectations. A colorful and cultural onslaught of imagination, relatability and sentiment, tailored by two endearing leads with irresistible chemistry.

    I'm usually not one for romcoms but if the leads are engaging enough, then I'm sold. Ember and Wade - voiced by fresh talent Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie, respectively - share a captivating journey together, one that isn't just focused on love but puts their humanity in a binding spotlight. Their relationship flows oh-so naturally and is 10x more enchanting than any prince and princess story. You know that scene from WALL-E where the robots dance outside the spaceship? Almost the entirety of Elemental follows that one gorgeous sequence's beat and it's utterly charming.

    The animation is quite stunning to behold; fluid, expressive and diverse. I can tell Pixar had so much fun with it while pushing the envelope; such a delight to watch. The world drips with inventiveness and attention to detail; I wouldn't pass on living in Element City. I can't leave out Thomas Newman's music, too. This is the composer's fourth collaboration with Pixar (the first since Finding Dory) and his score doesn't disappoint; lovely, often hypnotizing, and always hits the right notes.

    Elemental is one of the most soulful and compassionate pictures to come out of Pixar in recent years and it's getting such a bum rap for no good reason. Look, it may seem familiar on the surface but - as expected from the studio that pioneered the art form and tells personal stories - Elemental is built from real relationships and social conflicts and has moving answers to questions on affection, immigration, pressure, sacrifice, and free will. Prepare for some sniffles and tears. I felt the love that was put into it every second and that standing ovation at Cannes was well-earned.
  • I_Ailurophile - 7 March 2024
    Definite proof that Pixar still has the magic touch after all these years
    The experience of learning about this movie, and progressing to watch it, is a series of discoveries. First was its announcement and its release, which initially appeared to be not quite so successful; maybe I'm just jaded, but there came a point where Pixar began to lose its luster, and not every subsequent release was guaranteed to be as appealing as those earlier in the studio's history. Second was reading of Peter Sohn's inspiration for the picture, drawing from his family's history, and specifically his parents' experiences as immigrants; whatever the end result ended up being, it's clear that this was made from a place of love and utmost earnestness. And third, moving from the production history to actually pressing "play," we see again and again how marvelously clever 'Elemental' really is in some crucial ways. There's so much to love in the writing, the visuals, and indeed the sound and music, whether directly speaking to relatable facets of real life, taking influence from such facets, or slyly conceiving how "biology," behavior, and culture would be shaped in a world in which beings are the living embodiment of earth, fire, wind, or water. I'm not saying the film is absolutely perfect or essential, but I am saying that however cynical we may be from the outside looking in, this really is wonderfully smart and fun. Moreover, if it's not perfect, for the level on which it operates, the distinction means nothing.

    Sure, some ideas herein are extra childish, silly or on the nose, though that's the risk one takes in building a family-friendly feature. Furthermore, in keeping with how such features are not uncommonly made, the pacing is swift and the plot development often decidedly direct (especially early on), in turn arguably feeling overly simplified. On the other hand, there's also some sly adult humor disguised as abject silliness, and the very serious underlying themes are approached in a manner that lets them resound unequivocally while also softening them for younger viewers: racism, xenophobia, and otherwise prejudice, counterbalanced by celebrating differences, finding common ground, overcoming our biases, and taking chances to build something new, not to mention Sohn's core notions of hard work, parental sacrifice, the weight of heritage, and monumental expectations, and still more. And nevertheless all this pales in comparison to the brilliance to greet us in the foundational "elements" of the world-building conjured by Sohn with writers Kat Likkel, John Hoberg, and Brenda Hsueh, and the complementary flavors that round out the production. It's hard to even find the words and contain one's enthusiasm with regards to the temperaments, abilities, and idiosyncratic behaviors of each type of being, how they interact with the world, and how these inform everything from their names to their visual design; the ingenuity behind the form and function of infrastructure, architecture, and tools, and the broader culture of Element City and its population; how tropes and ideas we recognize from real life are represented in new, witty ways in light of the concept; and much, much more.

    But oh, we're just getting started. It may be the rounding details that most catch our attention, but the writing team conjured a screenplay with very real, believable, complicated characters of big personality, meaningful dialogue, and a narrative that's stupendously heartfelt, thoughtful, and impactful. At the same time, of course there is plenty of splendid humor of all kindsAll these aspects lay the groundwork for the visuals after their own fashion, but the scene writing and Sohn's oversight as director really seem to stake the biggest claim in instructing the animators. And very frankly, the animation in 'Elemental' may be the most beautiful that I've ever seen. Sometimes it's surprisingly realistic despite the wholly fantastical, almost cartoonish qualities of the world and its characters, like we could practically reach out and touch something; elsewhere the imagery is just so rich that we could spend long minutes poring over each frame. At its very best, though, where the story and scene writing converge with the elemental concept and the astonishing imagination of all involved, we're treated to phenomenally gorgeous, purely artistic bedazzlement recalling the most far-flung whimsy we'd get in sci-fi flicks as they impart loftier, more esoteric abstractions. And yet such moments do remain fully tethered to the storytelling, without fail accentuating some of the most impressive emotional beats. None of this is to count out the outstanding original music of trusted composer Thomas Newman: echoing the nature of Element City as a veritable melting pot of diverse peoples, the themes and songs herein pull from a variety of styles and cultures from all over the world to become terrifically enticing bursts of vibrancy whether a scene is one of action, adventure, or general lightheartedness, or one of sincere drama or wholehearted warmth.

    I can very honestly say that I had my doubts before I sat for this, yet literally as soon as it began I was completely taken with the readily evident, incredible skill, intelligence, and care that went into it in every capacity. We may nitpick this or that, but such scrutiny means little when stood next to the intoxicating animation, the absorbing story, and the fabulously smart minutiae that flesh out the world. Nearly thirty years after producing their first full-length title, ''Elemental' steadfastly demonstrates that Pixar still has the magic touch; in whatever measure not all their works are equal, this is definitely one of the great ones. Personal preferences will vary, but I'm so deeply pleased with just how superb this 2023 flick really is, handily surpassing whatever assumptions I may have formed. There's no two ways about it: if you're someone who appreciates Pixar, animation broadly, or that more shrewd variant of kids' movie that also plays to the adults in the audience - or for that matter if you're just looking for something good to watch - 'Elemental' is highly entertaining and satisfying, and I'm happy to give it my very high and enthusiastic recommendation!