Miss Flicks

Elemental: Film Review

Disney/Pixar‘s latest movie Elemental hasn’t done well at the box office in America and that makes really sad because it deserves to be seen by a much wider audience.

The animation is set in Element City, where Earth, Wind, Fire and Water supposedly live in harmony. But that’s not true – the other elements are afraid or wary of Fire so they’ve made their own neighbourhood called Firetown. The film follows Ember Lumen (voiced by Leah Lewis), who is preparing to take over her father’s shop, The Fireplace. She tries to save the store when a city inspector, a Water guy named Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie), accidentally shows up via a leaky pipe and notices many code violations.

That is just the jumping-off point. The film tells a beautiful love story between two people who aren’t supposed to date outside of their element. Despite their differences and society telling them that cannot co-exist, Ember and Wade fall in love and help each other become better people.

Elemental also shines a light on the immigrant experience. Ember’s parents left Fire Land in search of a better life in Element City but they are marginalised and treated like outsiders. Element City was not built for them and the other elements are scared of them, so they create their own community. Ember feels pressured to do her parents proud and make them feel like their sacrifice was worth it and she doesn’t handle it well – her temper is a big problem.

Every Pixar movie looks gorgeous but Elemental is particularly stunning visually, with a couple of scenes especially blowing my mind. I also adored exploring the new world of Element City and seeing how it runs differently from the human world – what a water person’s home looks like, how the subway runs, and how the elements interact, for example. It’s so creative and I loved all those world-building details.

I urge you all to go out and support Elemental because it is wholesome, full of heart and absolutely lovely. It is beautiful narratively and visually and the story made me well up a couple of times.

In cinemas from Friday 7th July and on Disney+ from Wednesday 13th September