Elemental: Adorable And Thematically Complex

Elemental Is A Gift For Every Single Romance Fan

Elemental marks Pixar’s first romance-focused story since Wall-E, and as a fan of romance stories—yes, most people also find that surprising when they find out—I have to give it a glowing endorsement right off the bat. The storytelling, the animation, and the adorable romance between the main characters all led to a lovely story that made me smile, cry, and go, “Oh my god, they’re so cute together.” Basically, if you like romance as a genre, you need to watch this movie.

But what I didn’t expect—or know about—going in was that this was a movie not just about romance. Elemental uses the four classical elements as a direct and very overt allegory for racial and cultural identity, relationships between different groups, the immigrant experience, and so much more. And how much of it is based on real cultures, and how much of it was created for the movie, is something far, far out of my wheelhouse, but considering the sheer levels of research Pixar seems to do for their films, I hope a lot of people feel seen by Elemental, in whatever way that is applicable.  

Elemental Is Not A Subtle Movie In Its Presentation

The main way this manifests in the moment-to-moment plot, and the aspect of the movie I can comment on a little more confidently, is through the inherent intersections between family, culture, and heritage Elemental builds to an engaging series of cascading conflicts. Elemental examines adult children’s connections to their parent(s) and the struggle to find independence within that dynamic. It also consistently and aggressively draws attention to the common worry about one’s parents aging. A fact that only complicates every other concern because it essentially creates a ticking clock. If you watch this movie—and I hope you do—pay attention to how many characters mention tumultuous connections to their fathers, either marked by conflict or loss. And, with all of that efficiently set up, Elemental then expertly weaves these established themes into the romance plot by making basically all the conflicts about the nervousness and fear inherent in being emotionally honest in any relationship. Even the material issues of pipes bursting from built-up pressure, the walls literally falling down, and fear of intimacy being shown as knowing closeness could hurt are unsubtle explorations of these ideas. And this isn’t a criticism—I don’t want Elemental to be more subtle. It shouldn’t be. This is understanding the narrative you are telling. This is holistic storytelling at its finest.

And I haven’t even gotten to the characters yet. Though this is a story about two people, Cinder (voiced by Leah Lewis) is the focus, and Cinder is phenomenal. A dynamic, flawed, delightful, interesting character who could carry a whole movie with her fears, her hopes, her conflicted emotional state, and more without all the fantastical elements. Her relationship with her tradition-minded father, Bernie (voiced by Ronnie Del Carmen), and her love-focused mother, Cinder (voiced by Shila Ommi), are so naturalistic that the fact everyone is made of blazing fire is never distracting. Pixar has always been good at character work, but Elemental is one of its best.

Every Main Character Is Imbued With So Much Life

And naturally, it doesn’t stop there. Wade (voiced by Mamoudou Athie) is one of my favorite love interests in all the romance stories I’ve seen. Partially because he’s so unique and partially because of an amazing vocal performance. For one, Wade’s allowed to cry—a lot—and be emotionally open, caring, and compassionate, and you just don’t see that in this genre as much as we should. Yes, he makes mistakes—and even outright says he’s being a jerk at one point during the standard big speech moment. But the sheer attention to making this story as non-toxic as possible within trope dynamics, of having such a prominent character modeling positive masculinity, is seen, and it is appreciated. This movie very well might be one of the most romantic stories in years. Because Elemental can’t focus on physical connections very much—it is a kid’s movie—the writing pulls all the stops to make sure that the emotional connections, the acts of love and empathy, are everywhere. The couple respects, admires, and grows to understand one another, not just think the other is hot. Yes, this romance happens quick by normal timetable standards, but I’m willing to ignore that for the sake of everything else working so well.

This Is One Of The Best Written Romances Around

And, naturally, all of this is elevated by the usual, expected, and appreciated stunning animation Pixar regularly does. The fire and water effects are astonishingly varied, and the attention to how light interacts with everything is incredible. What would normally be a cliché of character design is rendered in Elemental with such skill it stops mattering how obvious the conceit usually would be. The way these elemental people move, stretch, and glide through scenes makes for action set pieces that have totally different rules for physics, and it can even make mundane scenes have a fluidity that will make rewatches a treat. But, by far, my favorite animation trick is how Ember can shape things, especially glass. It’s basically a power/magic system all by itself and clearly is modeled from real glassblowing. Every scene of it is magical to watch.

And, no, despite what it might seem, despite any impressions I might have given, the elemental aspects aren’t just a visual thing to set this apart from a live-action movie. The elements add so much to the worldbuilding. Ember being able to float a hot-air balloon just by being inside of one is a really cool scene. The layout of the stadium and how the hoops in the sports scenes are allowed to be scored from the top or bottom are wonderful details. There’s a lot relegated to background signage, and there are so many puns—but it does feel like a world full of different types of elemental people who live there all the time. Even the layout of the city—and how people navigate it—feeds into Elemental’s story (and its allegories). Granted, it’s not nearly as explored as the race/cultural stuff, but there are a lot of scenes that run parallels to the issues of city planning’s effect on the mobility of people with disabilities. And stuff like that isn’t even usually considered in most fantasy stories, let alone informing pivotal scenes. It’s part of Ember’s story that it’s harder for fire people to even exist in this town, and it makes sense why she doesn’t venture outside of her community often, if ever. It’s a plot point that feeds into every other plot point. However, I do need to clarify that, once again, I am not the person to talk about this much—and I don’t know how well some of the implications from this world compare to the real-world scenarios and lived experiences of people with disabilities.

There’s A Lot To Unpack From The Smallest Details

Considered separate from its allegorical connections, though, and just within the movie’s internal logic, there are some plot points that are distracting. The whole “water and fire” thing led to some odd moments that my critic brain couldn’t quite let go of. Basically, Ember almost dies a lot. Like, if she slipped up even a little, she would die screaming with no way to save her. If you think of any large source of water as nigh-instantly lethal acid to the fire people, it detracts a lot from supposedly romantic scenes. When the kid pushed on the floaty chair and asked if Ember would die if she fell in, my immediate thought was, “Oh yeah, she totally would—how on Earth could she sit at that dinner table and not be terrified?” Maybe all those scenes are intended as a damning indictment of this city’s lax approach to caring about its immigrated fire citizens. Maybe it’s a metaphor for how hazardous it can feel to meet a partner’s parents for the first time. I don’t know. I don’t have the lived experience to unpack all the possibilities here.

This Film’s Whole Conceit Raises Many Questions

My only other complaint is aspects of the ending. And spoiler warning for the next paragraph—just skip to the next one if you don’t want to know anything more. Basically, there are two aspects of it that felt weird to me. The first is that it’s abrupt. After a phenomenal emotional moment between daughter and father, the movie just hard cuts to credit. I wish it could’ve lingered a little longer on, well, everything that had happened. The second is that it’s eerily similar to Luca’s ending in so many ways. Pixar has always—and correctly—prioritized a strong emotional core to a story over originality, but Luca and Elemental were only released two years apart, and they both end with someone getting on a train, ready to face a wider world, after finally making peace with their family’s expectations of them. Come on now. Like, I still choked up, but it could’ve been a little off the established path, surely?

Anyway, besides that, besides my nitpicks and Elemental having way too many fart puns in early scenes, I made my opinion clear at the top—and it hasn’t changed. It resolutely hasn’t. Elemental is an adorable and charming romance story with phenomenally good character writing, a fantastic soundtrack, great vocal performances, and so much more, all wrapped up in a story that flows effortlessly from scene to scene and pays off its main plots with the skillful handling and emotional potency that Pixar is famous for. I don’t know what standing it has in the grand catalog of Pixar’s offerings, but it’s high on the list for me and is absolutely a movie you should watch.

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