Elementary, Dear Viewer

Later this year, Pixar will be releasing a sequel to one of their best-ever movies, Inside Out. That feels a little wild, because you might swear they already released a spiritual sequel to it last year. At least, that's sure how the movie Elemental looked in previews (to me, at least) -- like some sort of rehashed Inside Out. It's a shame that I, or anyone else, got that impression. Because now that I've caught up with Elemental, I've learned that it really is trying to do its own thing.

The movie is set in sprawling city where elemental beings of water, air, earth, and fire all co-exist... mostly harmoniously. The city is certainly arrayed in a way that's easier for some beings more than others, as the residents of Firetown know quite well. Still, Bernie and Cinder have run a successful shop there for years, and now the father wants to pass it down to his daughter Ember to run. But Ember's hot temper threatens almost every customer interaction, and even threatens to get the shop shut down by city inspectors. Ember must try to protect an inheritance she's secretly uncertain about... and also keep secret the budding romantic relationship she's developing with a water elemental.

When I say Elemental is trying to be its own thing, that's two things, primarily. First, it is very strongly a story of immigrants. Director Peter Sohn says the story was inspired by his own parents, who immigrated from Korea to run a grocery store in New York City. The allegory isn't veiled at all here, nor softened for a movie "aimed at kids" -- Elemental repeatedly demonstrates exactly the sort of systemic racism that Republican politicians don't want anyone to talk about.

Second, this is Pixar's first legitimate love story. We're not talking "aren't WALL-E and EVE cute together," or "doesn't the Up opening montage about Carl and his wife pull at your heartstrings?" This movie is the whole story arc from meet-cute to "meet the parents" and more, with many plot points from the rom-com playbook faithfully observed along the way. Pixar has dared to make a movie that their core demographic would likely receive with anything from indifference to disgust. ("Kissing? Ew, gross!")

Elemental then triples down on its refusal to do the typical things an animated movie does for broad appeal, by not casting any A-list celebrities. The biggest name anywhere in the cast is Catherine O'Hara, and her character gets maybe five minutes of screen time. Elemental is looking for something more authentic, and casts Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie as the leads in its "inter-elemental" romance.

There is one way in which the movie doesn't break with Pixar tradition, and that's in the way it really pushes the boundaries of computer animation. Because of who the characters in this story are, the need for complex animation of fire, water, and smoke particles is baked right into the story. Along with that, light reflections and refraction, steam, condensation, and more. It's easy to take for granted that you can just "do anything" now with CG -- but in truth, it feels like Pixar hasn't pushed the boundaries of what's convincingly possible this hard since Sully's fur in the original Monsters Inc.

I do wish that I could say all these bold choices leads to the best Pixar movie ever, or even the best one in years. But Pixar has set the bar so high in the past that it simply cannot be cleared very often anymore. Still, I would put Elemental near the top of "mid-tier" Pixar -- which means the quality is still rather high. I give it a B+. I was glad to have watched it, and I'm glad to make room for it on my beginning-to-expand Top Movies of 2023 list.