Summary
While wearing its influence on its sleeve, Disney/Pixar returns to a kind of universal storytelling that combines the best of animation with a whole lot of heart.
There’s a lot of Disney/Pixar’s history in ELEMENTAL. Director Peter Sohn, who last helmed The Good Dinosaur (2015), has been with Pixar since Finding Nemo in 2003. There’s clear aesthetic influences from previous hits like Zootopia (2016) and Inside Out (2015). Yet it’s also a film that reminds us exactly why they are the kings of heartfelt animation.
In Sohn’s film, the fire-based Bernie (Ronnie del Carmen) and Cinder Lumen (Shila Ommi) immigrate to Elemental City, where they are initially shunned by the other elements. After opening a store in a small corner, the fire people slowly build a community around the shop.
Bernie intends for daughter Ember (Leah Lewis) to take over the business, something she thinks she wants as well. Yet she can’t control her literally fiery temper when interacting with customers, something that causes a minor catastrophe with the building’s pipes. Enter city inspector Wade (Mamoudou Athie), a water element who wears his heart on his transparent sleeve — and in great puddles of tears wherever he goes. While investigating the source of a malady that threatens Fire Town, the two find that they aren’t so different.
When we first get a glimpse of Element City, it’s hard not to think of the sprawling metropolis of Zootopia. The overlapping details from the four main elements is idyllic and futuristic, a stark contrast with the earthier Fire Town. This setup makes it obvious almost immediately that for Sohn, the son of first-generation Korean immigrants, this is a story about identity and a celebration of the immigrant story.
Which is why Sohn and the creative team concentrate on character. Yes, it’s a star-crossed lovers story in a fantastic world, and on this level it is heartwarmingly successful. Yet we see an exploration of prejudice, both through Bernie’s trauma and the behaviour of others. We get commentary on class divides through Wade’s parents, who are wonderfully accepting but still make casual comments about Ember’s ‘good English.’
The humour is surprisingly adult at times too, from the dry moments with Wade’s family to the Earth plants caught ‘pruning’ each other. (“Nothing weird going on here!” they protest). Later in the picture, Ember’s parents talk about having more time for ‘hanky panky.’ One even wonders if this was made for kids at all, which isn’t a complaint. After all, even old Walt was known to spout the aphorism that if you try and make a movie for everybody, you wind up making it for nobody. ELEMENTAL is definitely a film for somebody.
From an animation point of view, there’s scarcely enough space to gush about how fabulously detailed this is. A project seven years in the making, the leads don’t necessarily have a basis in other more human character designs. Wade, for example, has to be transparent as well as solid at all times.
Water, heat, fur, and texture are like nothing we’ve seen before. The fire of Ember, for example, looks both flat and solid and is always in motion – a notoriously difficult move for an animation team. It all comes together in a centrepiece scene where Wade manages to take Ember underwater, and the use of light and texture – not to mention dramatic tension – make it one of Pixar’s best scenes, well, ever.
After the misguided Lightyear, Sohn’s ELEMENTAL continues the good form of Turning Red and Soul. This reviewer laughed, cried, and had the cockles of my heart warmed. This isn’t just a great reminder of the power of stellar animation, or why Pixar are still masters of it, but why positive messages, personal stories, and representation are essential in cinema.
2023 | USA | DIRECTOR: Peter Sohn | WRITERS: John Hoberg, Kat Likkel, Brenda Hsueh | CAST: Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Ronnie del Carmen, Shila Ommi, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Catherine O’Hara, Mason Wertheimer, Joe Pera, Matt Yang King | DISTRIBUTOR: Disney | RUNNING TIME: 109 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 15 June 2023 (AUS), 16 June 2023 (US)
