“Elemental” Review
A fire element named Ember (Leah Lewis) and a water element named Wade (Mamoudou Althie) spark up a romance in “Elemental,” the latest film from Pixar.
When “Elemental” made its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, one of the reactions that I saw the most from critics was that this film was good but also one of Pixar’s least effective films. While I can say that “Elemental” doesn’t reach the highs of Pixar’s best films, to call it one of the studio’s lesser films would disregard some of its most admirable factors which, in my opinion, make this film worth watching.
In Element City, four species of anthropomorphic creatures; Earth, Air, Water and Fire live together while mainly keeping to their own kind under the idea that “elements cannot mix.” While preparing to take over her father’s shop in the neighborhood of Fire Town, a fire element named Ember Lumen (Leah Lewis) meets Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Althie), a water element and city inspector who finds many code violations in the Lumen family’s shop. Determined to prove herself and to prevent the store from being shut down, Ember follows Wade and they work together to save the Lumens’ livelihood. Along the way, the two begin to realize that maybe water and fire can mix and begin to pursue the most unlikely thing: a relationship.
Inevitably, this film is going to be compared to “Zootopia” and the similarities are pretty obvious. Both of these films focus on anthropomorphic creatures who live in a city that mirrors our world, there’s a class system that divides everyone, the overall moral is going to be that prejudice is bad and the film is going to have a creative and meaningful way of getting that moral across. However, the two films are wildly different in their execution of this kind of story.
Unlike “Zootopia,” which is a grand buddy-cop film that involves political corruption, a conspiracy turn predator against prey and a surprise villain at the end, “Elemental” is a much smaller story that deals with a relationship as the primary story. Whenever “Elemental” tries to do anything more, the film’s weaknesses are apparent. The main catalyst that drives Ember and Wade to each other; saving her father’s store, isn’t that compelling mainly because there’s no sense of urgency.
When the film tries to show off this environment, it falters as well. I didn’t get a good feeling how this world works and, despite imaginative visuals and cool environments, there’s not much interaction with the characters. However, all of these flaws are forgivable when the film focuses on Wade and Ember’s romance.
This relationship is what makes “Elemental” so engaging with how pure and emotionally impactful it is. Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie’s performances are remarkable and these characters are so likable. Ember and Wade’s characters offset each other perfectly and their differences allow the two to learn from each other. Ember is unsure of whether or not she wants to continue her father’s legacy and has a temper brought on by anxiety. Wade is much more emotional and sensitive with him not having a clear idea of what he wants to do with his life.
Their romance is beautiful and told with such vibrant visuals. There are sequences that are entirely focused on Wade and Ember just exploring the city and getting to know each other and they’re some of the best in the whole film. What Wade and Ember have is so engaging that it forged a strong emotional connection. There were moments in this film that made my audience gasp and cry and you can bet that I was one of them.
“Elemental” may not be one of Pixar’s strongest films but it is much better than films like “Cars 2,” “Monsters University” and “Brave.” With a charming relationship at its core, “Elemental” is good enough for a pleasing experience at the movie theater.
