Elemental

Last weekend, Elemental, the newest film from Disney and Pixar, was released in theaters. Elemental follows Ember, a fireperson living in Element City as she prepares to take over her dad's store. When a mistake puts the store at risk, Ember must work together with water person Wade to try and save the story and unintentionally develop a relationship along the way. Pixar is one of my favorite animation studios and I was very interested to see a new original story from them.

This movie was a lot better than I was expecting. The last couple of Pixar films have been a bit lacking and I had heard some not great things about this film. Thankfully, I ended up having a lot of fun with this film. Surprisingly enough, I quite enjoyed the Rom-Com aspect of the film. Normally, Rom-Coms aren't really my thing but this one actually worked for me. I thought the relationship was built out quite well. It didn't feel like there was a rush in the development of their relationship. Everything just felt very natural. I also thought that the movie handled the whole coming from two different worlds aspect very well. It also manages to address the prejudice and misunderstandings that different elements seem to have. This movie also had a lot of funny moments in it as probably one of the funnier Pixar movies. It balances its humor so that there are jokes that both kids and adults will appreciate. There were even a couple of adult jokes that I thought were very funny but was shocked that they actually snuck into the movie. This movie also does an excellent job with its world-building. We get a lot of time to explore Element City and see how the different elements live and their interactions with each other. It establishes a world that I really enjoyed and wouldn't mind seeing more of. Of course, you can't have a Pixar movie without it giving you the feels, and this film is no exception. It has quite a few sweet moments as well as some sad emotional moments that would some people cry. It also supplies some moments that connect with adults as well as kids. Finally, I really liked the message of the film. The film is all about honoring your parent's legacy while also trying to live your own life which I feel is an important message for both kids and adults.

However, there are a few things that keep it from being a top-tier Pixar film. The big issue is that there was a bit too much going on at times. We have the relationship between Ember and Wade, Ember's anger issues, Ember taking over the shop, and the water gate to fire town leaking. It just feels like a bit too much to cram into a 2-hour movie. We don't even get to see the internal conflict of Ember about how she is unsure about running her dad's store until over an hour into the movie when in reality, it should be the main issue of the story. It just felt a bit off in what parts of the plot were getting the most focus. I also felt that some of the conflicts between Wade and Ember were a bit forced. When Ember goes off on Wade, it feels like it is there more because that is what needs to happen in a Rom-Com instead of because it is the natural thing to happen. The conflict just feels out of place and is just there to check another box off of Rom-Com bingo.

In the end, this was a solid new film from Pixar. While it feels a bit overstuffed at times and with a bit of a forced conflict, it is still a fun Rom-Com and shows that Pixar is back to delivering high-quality films.

Score: 8/10 Grade: B+ Recommendation: Check it out with the family