I know everyone these days is looking for some solid reason to spend theatre ticket money. But when I see genuinely decent movies not pull the crowds they deserve, I want to cry like Wade Ripple, one half of Elemental’s lead pair, does. In streams. Already reports are coming in of how Pixar’s newest isn’t doing so well at the box office. Perhaps, because it is not some big franchise film. Or because the trailer made it evident that this is a simple, straightforward ‘opposites attract’ romance with no flashiness. But give, Elemental, directed by Peter Sohn, a chance, and its chemical romance of Fire and Water will charm you with its cuteness and warmth, causing a leak in your eyes so the tears can flow occasionally!
For Elemental, Pixar’s 27th film, Sohn also serves as a writer alongside John Hobert, Kat Likkel, and Brent Hsueh. It is produced by Denise Ream, with Pete Doctor as executive producer. The voice cast includes Lean Lewis is Ember Lumen and Mamoudou Athie as Wade Ripple, with Ronnie del Carman, Shila Omni, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Joe Pera, Mason Wertheimer, and Catherine O’Hara.
Elemental anthropomorphises the elements of fire, water, wind, and earth as fire people, water people, air people, and earth people. They all come together in Elements City. Bernie and Cinder Lumen leave their fire country to come to Elements City for a better future for their daughter, Ember. And despite facing constant communal discrimination from the other elemental people over the years, majorly water, they build a life there, and a shop called Fireplace, that would one day pass on to Ember. And boy, is she eager to take charge! However, her easily sparked temper and a meeting with a water boy and city inspector Wade, turn Ember’s straightforwardly planned life on its head, making her step out of the fireplace and see herself in a different light.
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Pixar is a master of world-building, and once again, they do an excellent job with Elements City. Modelled after New York City, Elements City too has a fancy skyline populated with glass skyscrapers, a Brooklyn Bridge, a Grand Central Station, and different neighbourhoods that different communities call home. There’s even a Fire City neighbourhood, where the Lumens live, which is quite on the outskirts and under train tracks that splash water onto them and looks less flashy than the central city.
Of course, the magic is all in the tiny details that have been added to make you smile. Punny names of car brands (Tree-yota!), the architectural designs of the homes and offices of the people that comply with their elemental properties. Even the way the anthropomorphising has been done, and the characters designed is clever and adorable. Ember’s design is beautiful; sharp eyes, her pointy-flame nose, and her black and gold outfit that goes perfectly with her radiating light. And Wade’s ability to shapeshift into a muscular hottie but choosing to look cute and rounded, in a pink tee, ready to cry on cue. I love how the fire people must eat wooden logs to replenish energy. And when the earth people reach puberty, they have flowers growing out as armpit hair! In fact, the way the film uses science to add both humour and emotion to the story is one of my favourite things about Elemental.
Majorly, Elemental is an opposites-attract love story of Ember Lumen and Wade Ripple, who’re both changed on a fundamental level when they meet each other and fall in love. I don’t think anyone does love stories quite like Pixar—they might be cheesy but they sure do make you feel the feels and turn you into a mushy puddle. My favourite scene in the film is when Ember’s mother, who fancies herself a ‘smeller of true love in couples’, asks Wade to ignite a flame so he can prove he and Ember work, and well, I won’t spoil it for you, but tears will come! *sniffles* Their meet-cute is actually hilarious but their love story, which has everything from a joint mission to save town, a romantic date, and hilarious meet-the-parents scenes, is beautiful, moving, and will make you go “Awww” a lot!
But Elemental isn’t just a love story of two people from opposite sides of the tracks who fell in forbidden love. This is also the story of Ember and her family, ethnic minorities who came to the big city in pursuit of a dream, who faced xenophobia and developed a distrust of the other elements out of self-preservation. In Ember burns a need to preserve the flame (a literal blue flame) of her culture and heritage that her father passes on to her, and she embodies the struggle of the children of immigrant parents who feel the pressure to make their parents’ sacrifices mean something.
In Wade, there’s the emotional maturity you’d see in someone who has had a healthy childhood with all their emotional needs met. Most importantly, the Ripples are a family of criers, unafraid of expressing their feelings. One of Wade’s siblings, Lake Ripple, is Pixar’s first non-binary character, who brings their girlfriend to family dinner, clearly comfortable in who they are because they were accepted by their loved ones as is.
Though it’s all said in a simple way, it is said with a lot of heart. The voice cast particularly Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Ronnie del Carmen, do a fantastic job of bringing these characters to life. And Both, Ember and Wade’s love story and Ember’s relationship with her father will make feels flow easily, like a true blue Pixar film. A cherry on top is the film’s music, and Lauv’s ‘Steal The Show’ is the perfect, extremely hummable’ love song for the lead couple!