A One Mann’s Movies review of “Elemental” (2023).
This Disney/Pixar release had the worse opening of any of their films. But having said that, “Elemental” is currently (July 14th 2023) on a worldwide box office of $263m, which is no loose change. But on a budget of $200M it still has some way to go (it needs double that after expected profit and marketing expenses) to be considered a “success”. Given it’s mainly about fire, I’m afraid I was a bit lukewarm about it.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
An immigrant ‘fire’ family, led by the father Bernie (Ronnie Del Carmen), move and set up shop in Element City, where Fire, Water, Air and Earth residents live in separate, but connected, communities. As the years pass, Bernie dreams of retiring and handing his shop over to his daughter Ember (Leah Lewis). But the headstrong Ember gets into all sorts of trouble leading her to meet the water inspector Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie) and an attraction begins. But as her mother Cinder (Shila Ommi) continually preaches to her, the one golden rule is that “Elements don’t mix”.
Certification:
UK: PG; US: PG. (From the BBFC web site: “Implied mild bad language”.)
Talent:
Starring: Ronnie Del Carmen, Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Shila Ommi.
Directed by: Peter Sohn .
Written by: John Hoberg, Kat Likkel & Brenda Hsueh.
Twitter Handle: #pixarelemental.
The faces behind the voices. Leah Lewis as Ember and Mamoudou Athie as Wade. (Source: Jesse Grant / Getty Images from hollywoodreporter.com).
“Elemental” Review:
Positives:
- As always, the background detail and design of the images is inventive and there are some nice jokes within the script. I particularly liked Ember and Wade walking through a fence and saying “Why do they bother putting these here anyway?” (LoL) and the ever-sobbing Ripple family members.
- The primary message behind Ember’s journey – that young people should follow their own dreams and not be slaves to their parents’ expectations – was one I really liked. There is also some cute messaging here about the segregation between race and religious groups in big cities, and the associated prejudices, that will no doubt go over the heads of the children in the audience but which I appreciated.
- Thomas Newman’s score is really engaging. There was a sort of ‘Bollywood’ energy to one of the opening scenes that reminded me of the Mumhatten music from the recent “Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse” movie.
- The final scene I found to be quite moving – – shades of the throat-lump-inducing finale to “Pochahontas” for me.
Negatives:
- As animated characters, I found the ‘fire’ people a bit bland and two-dimensional. At times, their lower bodies looked like a simple video-mask with a fire effect playing behind it.
- There simply wasn’t enough to the story to really engage me fully I’m afraid.
Summary Thoughts on “Elemental”
I mean, it’s “OK”. I originally gave this three stars, but – given the chuckles from the kids in the pretty full screening I went to – I decided that, as I am not in the real target audience for this offering, I should really give it more slack. But the problem with Pixar is that I expect brilliance and perfection, and – personally speaking – this really didn’t hit that bar for me this time.
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Trailer for “Elemental”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXzcyx9V0xw .
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