Elemental Review
A warm and lovely animated adventure.
Ember (Leah Lewis) is a young fire element woman, who is preparing to take over the local community store from her father, Bernie (Ronnie Del Carmen). But her temper keeps getting in her way, and her father doesn’t feel comfortable initiating the transition until she gets it under control. When he gives her a chance, she blows up, and causes a leak in the basement that literally draws in city inspector, and water element man, Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie). Wade is the opposite of Ember entirely, but when she wins him to her side, the duo have to pair up to fix a city leak, stem the flow of water, and protect not just the shop, but the entire fire community. As Wade and Ember go about fixing the city, they also fall in love with one another; but can two elements, from different backgrounds, ever really mix? And can Ember ever truly pursue her passions, when her father expects so much from her?
Elemental is a heartwarming film that evokes some of the beautiful moments of Pixar’s storied history, building on beautiful themes of love, friendship, and cross-class engagement. But it’s also a movie that smashes you in the face with its social commentary, presenting a perfectly worthy level of messaging with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie are both fantastic as Ember and Wade, and the two characters really sing as personalities. Each is really strong and engaging, and probably will generate a mass of young fans. I also really loved Ember’s dad, Bernie, who feels like a very real and warm interpretation of everyone’s Dad or Granddad.
Visually, Elemental is both stunning, and a little underwhelming. Effectively a meld of Inside Out and Zootopia, Elemental plays fast and loose with the physics of its world, but all in the service of creating something visually stunning. There are a heap of really beautiful ideas in this movie, and the four different elements provides the great opportunity for a wide variety of visual inspo.
The backstory to the fire nation really came across well also. The strong imagery of their native land, the deep bow element, and a lot of the fun, fire themed parts to their society, all worked.
What didn’t work as well, was the sledgehammer style force feed of the messaging. The movie has a great heart, and a strong message and reason for being. The story really brings to life the class and racial divide between immigrant and non-immigrant communities, along with the inherent debt many first and second generation immigrant children feel towards their parents, and the impact of that debt on their life. However, it does so with a complete absence of subtext; everything is spelt out in text. This script needed a strong rewrite to nuance it up a little, and provide a little less explanation. The audience isn’t dumb, but this movie thinks they are.
Ultimately, while that can grate at times, and the plot dealing with the water leak is pretty nonsensical, the warm romance between Ember and Wade, along with the beautiful family dynamics on display, carry this movie as a light, beautiful and fun entry into the Pixar pantheon.
