Introduction
Well, hello there, fellow adventurers! Blaziker here, and after swinging through the different realms of the Spider-Verse, it is time we jump into another realm, but this time, a realm of elements in Pixar’s latest movie, Elemental!
Directed by Peter Sohn (who previously directed Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur at a short notice), in a world full of different elements of the world, Ember (Leah Lewis), a fire-based girl crossed paths with a water-based guy of Wade (Mamoudou Athie) and realised they had feelings towards each other. With them representing different elements and their families in conflict over their relationship, will opposites truly attract in their world?
Pixar’s reputation has been put into question, especially given the massive bombs of Pixar’s previous movie, Lightyear. In fact, ever since the announcement of Elemental, there was a massive discord from the community, especially the detractors that seek to divide the community. Will Elemental be the comeback Pixar needed, or will it fizzle out?
Key Information
- Director: Peter Sohn
- Animation Studio: Pixar
- Country of Origin: United States
- Rating: PG13 (Yes, this is the actual Singapore rating)
- Release Date: 15 June 2023 (In Singapore)
Trailer
The Review
Story and Characters
Last year, I posted my very first review on my blog about Pixar’s previous movie, Lightyear. While I enjoyed it for what it is, the biggest issue has to be the writing, especially with the third-act twist which almost single-handedly ruined the entire movie for me. However, while there were some story issues, it did not derail the entire experience for me. In fact, the story is a massive grower, pun intended.
Let’s start off with a couple of issues within Elemental. Of course, there were the usual animated movie tropes that I noticed that is in full force in Elemental, which is something I had to note considering that other animated movies had move on from tropes and showcasing originality in storytelling, such as in Unicorn Wars and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. There is also the case that there are certain parts of Element City that the movie did not explore enough, and I wish Elemental covers most of its bases just like what Zootopia did, as did a couple of jokes that I find unfunny.
With that said, those are some only negatives I could find in the writing because the other elements are just top-notch Pixar. Despite having a generic rom-com storyline as its base, Pixar elevated it into an important and heartwarming story about second-generation immigrants and living up to immigrant parents, something that would resonate with a lot of second to third-generation immigrant children. It might be in a similar vein to the generational trauma of Turning Red, but Elemental’s is more layered than Turning Red.
In addition, what sold me was that Elemental made it so emotional at the right parts, especially with the developing relationship between Ember and Wade (more about them later) and their motivations and beliefs, and the writing makes it a focus on the relationship between the two. You are mostly with them throughout most of the film, with very minimal side plots, so that the romance storyline remains solid. Not having those distractions is very refreshing, if I am honest.
Turning to the best part of the writing are the characters, and, except for Lightyear, Pixar nails the character development as the focus is more so on the characters. For me, the relationship between Ember and Wade, as well as the character development throughout the whole movie, was the big winner. Ember, as a daughter to immigrants, shows a fiery passion while Wade showcases a chill attitude and together, their strengths and weaknesses were in full force, thus making their developing romance so believable and so touching.
Not only that, the supporting cast help to build that relationship. You have Ember’s parents of Bernie (Ronnie Del Carmen) and Cinder (Shila Omni) are essential for the story and help to understand Ember more. Wade’s family is as equally interesting as Ember’s parents and most of the supporting cast help to ensure the strength of the relationship. Also, Clod (Mason Wertheimer), despite having only a few minutes of screen time, is hilarious and not too annoying as a minor comic relief character, and I am glad there is no comic relief sidekick that would threaten to derail the story.
It also helps that the voice acting is one of the best of the year, which is fantastic given that most of the voice cast are professional voice actors with some or minimal live-action acting experience. This is proof that you do not need a big celebrity cast to voice act in an animated movie, as I pretty much could not fault the voice acting in Elemental.
Animation
For those that are tired of Pixar’s animation style in a lot of their recent movies, I feel for you, because even I, a Disney fan since childhood, have doubts about Pixar’s current animation style as of late. Yes, Pixar had showcased different aesthetics in their recent movies, whether it was the modern fantasy in Onward, the abstract afterlife in Soul, cut sea creatures from Luca and Canadian cute red pandas from Turning Red, but it felt like the Pixar-style realism animation is coming out of style, especially given that photorealistic CG animation is a dying trend in place of more exciting and more dynamic stylised CG animation.
However, it seems Pixar also realises this too, because the animation in Elemental is very awe-inspiring!
One of the best parts with the animation is the character designs. Designing characters from different elements is already a challenge, since Pixar had to really think though of how they will translate each of the four elements (wind, earth, fire and water) into actual characters, and not only are they translated very well, but the intricate details and element-specific animation in each one is a miracle. The fire-based characters amplify fieriness (especially with Ember), the wind-based characters (such as Wade’s boss Gale) grace across the cinema screens, the earth characters (like Clod) showcase greenery and the water-based characters (like Wade) flow smoothly.
In fact, speaking of water, while the background designs of Element City and its surroundings are whimsical and interesting, the water animation takes the cake. Water is one of the hardest elements to animate it properly, and so, so many movies falter when it comes to water animation. However, Elemental’s water animation felt effortless and given that there were many water elements in the movie besides the water-based characters, this was another peak performance with Pixar’s animation.
Many strengths in the animation all go down to Elemental being the most stylistically different animated movie compared to Pixar’s recent movies, which is an absolute relief. Given Pixar’s one-trick pony tactics when it comes to the animation style, Elemental’s abstract animation shines through in the movie, which helps given that this was the first full Pixar movie with no human characters since Onward, and just like with Deep Sea, the animation alone is worth seeing it in the cinemas.
Soundtrack, Other Elements and Level of Enjoyment
I wanted to ask a simple question: Why is Thomas Newman not an Oscar winner yet? He had composed many iconic scores throughout his illustrious career, and yet he has yet to win the Oscar for himself. Well, with what he did with Elemental’s score, I had a feeling he might be finally breaking his curse with this one.
Let me be honest: there is a reason Newman is a famed music composer, and Elemental’s score is one reason. Combining traditional sounds with soft orchestra makes it one of the most relaxing scores of 2023, and given that we had hectic and bombastic scores in a lot of animated movies this year, this score is a pleasant change. That’s not to take away with Lauv’s “Steal the Show” from the soundtrack, but man, the score is one of those few moments that reminded cinemagoers why people still love Pixar till this day.
One other element I had to note is the marketing and let me just say this: the marketing for Elemental does not do justice to what Elemental is all about, and it is such a shame that once again, Pixar did not stick the landing with the marketing. Yes, there was more extensive marketing compared to their more recent movies, but that does not matter if the quality of the marketing is not up to standard. However, this is another nitpick of mine because the movie quality matters much more.
As for how much I was enjoying it, I felt so emotional watching this movie, not because it was another Pixar movie, but because it made me feel something. There is something about Pixar making even grown men cry, and I am yet another happy cinemagoer undergoing such an effect. It was such a joy to watch it as it quells my doubts in the first fifteen minutes already. I would definitely watch it again once it hits Disney+, but I suggest you watch it in theatres first, especially given its shockingly low box office opening numbers so far.
Conclusion
Despite the negative backlash from some of the most delusional members of the animation community and its weak Cannes showing, Elemental was Sohn’s redemption with a heartfelt story. A massive glow-up from directing one of the least popular Pixar movies with The Good Dinosaur, to one of the most emotional with Elemental.
Elemental might not be in the top echelon of Pixar’s greats, but it was darn close to it. It may be yet another Pixar generational trauma story and there were some familiar tropes in this movie, but this was a much more heartfelt story that would make you feel emotional towards the end. The characters are very well developed with some decent comedy even if not all jokes land well. However, the animation stole the entire show with creative abstract animation designs last seen in Soul, combined with one of the best Thomas Newman scores in recent memory. This combines to create a well-rounded experience worth seeing, despite what social media was saying about it.
Thank you so much for reading this review. With June coming to an end, we got two more animated movies coming your way, one about a race rally and one about a shape shifting rebel. I will see you in the next animated movie adventure and until then, k thanks bye!
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Movie Rating
