Elemental Review: A Heart-warming Tale of Family & Love!

Pixar in the past decade or so has released a number of films highlighting a wide variety of diverse stories with heart, soul, and undeniably lovable characters. Some in the last few years include Coco, Soul, Luca, and Onward to name a few incredible ones. Pixar rarely ever fails in capturing the joy of being a child and experiencing films as well as the complexities of being an adult and growing up.

Elemental is a story that follows Ember growing up after her parents immigrate to Element City when she is born. Her father runs a store called The Fireplace where all fire elements have a place to call home among a land where they aren’t excepted fully. When Ember meets Wade, a man made of water, she must figure out whether she wants to remain the flame she’s always been or ignite a new flame within to follow her dreams.

Elemental is a heartwarming and funny tale of love and family that Pixar does best. Right off the bat it is obvious the incredible amount of animators who put their time into Elemental. Ember’s animation is exquisite as her flame flows and crackles through the entire film making audiences question the amount of time and work it must have taken to create this effect for an entire film. The vibrant colors are mesmerizing as well as Element City as a whole.

This is Pixar’s first attempt at creating a romantic film between two leads that exist outside of the fairy tale realm. The love that is seen between Ember and Wade outweighs any chemistry between Disney characters in the past and their romantic connection feels the strongest of any characters in Pixar so far. Their relationship is everything that makes love so beautiful; their disagreements, their first impressions of family, and most of all the focus on the one reason to love one another rather than the millions of reasons why it would be easier to be apart.

Elemental takes on three major themes including romantic love, familial pressures, and immigration and acceptance of others. Although all of these themes connect with one another it felt like the film took on three major concepts without the time frame to exhibit each to their full potential. The film would have had to be much longer to satisfy all of these themes fully but an hour and forty minute movie was enough to drive them home to the audience for the most part. However, Pixar’s ability to display the difficulty of not only making a new life in a new setting but the struggle of not being accepted because of your background was fantastic.

Elemental is a joyous watch and a sweet edition to the Pixar canon. The film also features the sweetest scene featuring Lauv’s new song Steal The Show that is undoubtably the highlight of the entire film. I’d recommend this movie to all who want to smile from ear to ear.