Elemental

Elemental, Disney and Pixar’s latest creative journey through an anthropomorphized world with abstract concepts as the main characters, has a lot on its mind. It’s all at once a love story, a kind of adventure, a story about intergenerational struggle and trauma, an exploration of the immigrant experience, and a visually compelling exercise. It doesn’t always hold together, but Elemental’s emotional core works and will resonate with anyone who has had to struggle between honoring their family’s sacrifices and honoring their own desires.

The movie tells the story of Ember (Lewis), a second-generation fire person trying to keep her family shop running in Element City. She goes through the motions of her life, working hard to earn her lifelong dream of taking over the shop from her dad, Bernie (Del Carmen). Her family’s livelihood is threatened when a leak brings in water that’s supposed to have been shut off to Firetown, where Ember and her family live, and also brings in Wade (Athie), a water person and city inspector. After he reluctantly tickets Ember for the shop’s code violations, the pair realizes a bigger leak (and a threat to the rest of Element City) is the main issue and decides to work together to fix it. Along the way, they uncover Ember’s true desires and realize their literally opposite natures might be compatible after all.

Elemental’s narrative structure can be clunky at times, mainly because its "elements mixing as allegory for culture clash and racism" can feel too broad to say anything new or revolutionary about the subject. At a time when more stories about the immigrant experience and intergenerational trauma are being made, Elemental could have been an opportunity to dig deep into the subject in a way that goes beyond putting elemental beings in a human situation. That being said, it’s still a movie that works emotionally even if it’s not a completely smooth ride.

What makes the movie work are the wonderful vocal performances of the cast. Lewis and Athie, especially, are charming and bring depth and tenderness to characters who might otherwise be one-note. Athie shines as Wade, turning what could have been a goofy cornball into an empathetic, endearing, and disarming foil for Ember. Lewis gives Ember her anger and determination, but allows her a vulnerability that gives the character depth. Together, the voice actors bring a sweetness to the romance that otherwise could feel rushed. Also worth mentioning is Del Carmen as Bernie, giving him brusque dad vibes that belie a deep love for Ember.

The animation helps ground the movie, too. Element City is a cute exercise in world building, and the textures and styles at play throughout the movie are a treat to watch. The design of the fire elements is especially compelling – Pixar used machine learning techniques to build moving characters from 2D paintings of fire. However, the most intimate animated moments are the ones that have stuck with me: elemental hands touching and testing something new, for instance. It feels like Pixar is stretching its muscles and starting to branch out beyond their house style, which is refreshing. Hopefully this is the start of even more innovative and interesting animation from the studio.

Elemental is thoughtful, visually interesting, and emotionally compelling, even if it doesn’t all gel together all the time. When the clunky story falters, the vision and dedicated vocal performances of the cast carry it through, and give Elemental real heart.