Movie Review: Elemental

If the Internet is to be believed, Pixar is hitting a bit of a bump in recent years. Uncreative ideas, sequelitis... I am not saying I agree, I'm saying it's what is being said. In fact, I disagree; maybe not every film is a success for a studio that originally knocked it out of the park at every release, but their output is still really good. I haven't seen a lot of their newer films; none between Soul and this one, in fact. Soul is one of my favorite films ever while I actually like Onward quite a bit; and between them and now, with Luca, Turning Red and Lightyear, really only the last one got openly negative reception with critics saying that it wasn't up to par with their usual stuff.

I can't really say I was intrigued with the concept behind Elemental. That classic tale of two polar opposites learning to be together? Take away the element aspect, and we've seen that a thousand times. A million, even. It's been done, even kids can tell you. No wonder the studio struggled to market this film on anything else. Shame, too, as this film has a ton of style.

And, mind you, I actually dislike the expression "style over substance". People working behind a movie very rarely think that way, and I feel it's a disservice to throw that critique at the work done by hundreds of people who all put in their little something in the final product. Elemental's director, Peter Sohn, mentioned in interviews that this film is meant to represent his struggles as a second-generation Korean immigrant in New York. Nothing we couldn't see on our own as part of the plot, but it helps put some of those elements (no pun intended) into perspective.

Story

Ember Lumen's parents Bernie and Cinder come from a fire nation (stop your A:TLA jokes, everyone's done them already). They've gone across the ocean to live in Element City, where the four elements coexist. They learned English over time following their arrival while Ember, growing up, was already immersed in it. She lives in an ethnic neighborhood for the fire people, an area that's safe for them to be in while the remainder of the city is built to accomodate water, air and earth people living together. Bernie has set up a convenience store, the Fireplace, and expects his daughter to learn the ropes of retail work so that when he retires he can pass the torch on to her.

(Oh, yeah - if you're not bothered by an endless stream of puns with the four elements, you're gonna get far more than your share.)

In the middle of a stressful sales event, Ember hides in her house's basement to blow off some steam, but in her fiery outburst, the water pipes break and leak. Those had been blocked off by rocks since water can be a deadly hazard to her people. However, alongside the leak comes a waterman, a city inspector named Wade Ripple, who had been sucked into the pipes mere minutes earlier. Embarrassed, Wade nonetheless reports on the code violations in the place before running away from a very angry Ember. Unfortunately for her, despite her best attempts, she is unable to stop him from sending his report; as a result, her dad's store is now at risk of being shut down by the city.

Ember manages to find Wade and both try to get that decision repealed to the best of their abilities. The air woman in charge, noting that the presence of water in Fire Town is a risk, gives them a few days to find the problem and solve it. And there is, indeed, a problem: A dam near the Town is about to burst. However, the time the two spend together creates a spark between them... A spark that will be hard to work with, seeing as A) physical contact between them is risky, and B) there's a very strong current against elements mingling with each other... to the point where Bernie is predjudiced against water people and would never accept his daughter's relationship with one of them!

Review

There IS substance here! But story-wise, it's beats we have already seen. Like I said, the forbidden romance between characters who are extremely different from each other... It's been done! Even Disney has done non-romantic takes on it in relatively recent movies. That was basically Zootopia. Swap animals for elements, add romance, and there you go. Everything else is the same: Large city with inventive building designs and neighborhoods fitted to the various types of citizens. Oh, and racism between those various types.

My comparison to Zootopia ends here, though, if I want to discuss this film on its own merits. The Fire People having their own language, living in their own part of the city and facing prejudice is a clear allegory for immigrants and immigration. It's an issue in our world, I'm all for the lack of subtlety on that aspect. Some moments are on-the-nose, like when someone from Wade's watery family comments on Ember's lack of accent...

On the plus side, what the movie seems to lack in terms of story it at least tries to compensante in terms of creativity in presenting this world. How that society is structured, how it works, how everyone lives... Every element's skills and abilities, like how Ember can create and shape glass out of sand, or how both protagonists' non-solid forms allows them to fit into any space. Common personality traits for each element - Ember is hotheaded and prone to anger, while Wade is in touch with his emotions and cries a lot. Obvious roads to take, fair. More notable is the sheer number of element-based puns going on. It's kind of intense. It's slmost too much. Good thing I like puns.

That said, it's still Pixar, so the film is gorgeous. Perhaps much more importantly, the way the characters look. I keep staring at our two mains and wondering, "how did they do that??" The fire effects on Ember, including her face - I swear it looks like 2D, and yet, sometimes it doesn't... The water effects with Wade, whenever he's boiling inside, or anytime his body melts into a puddle or goes through a chain link fence or whatever else... And what about the effect of wind characters being blown apart and reforming? How?

Style over substance? I already said I don't like that descriptor. At the very least I wouldn't call it intentional. That the substance is something that's regularly described as "it's been done" doesn't change that it's still there, and I like the aspect added by Mr. Sohn that was missing from similar works. Still, the style is all its own, and the effects on these characters - as well as how those effects are used throughout the film's 109-minute runtime - are worth at least giving this one a chance. If not in theaters, then on streaming or home media when it's released there. It's good, but from Pixar, we normally expect better than good; we expect outstanding. I'd like to think that this one will be more appreciated years down the line than it currently is, during its theater run - as it pales in comparison to recent animated movies such as Across the Spider-Verse or last year's Puss in Boots sequel, and will benefit from hindsight.