Elemental (2023)

3 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Fire Struck

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Directed by Peter Sohn, of The Good Dinosaur and the delightful short Partly Cloudy, Pixar's Elemental is, very simply, a lovely romantic comedy about star-crossed partners. The catch is that, since one half of the couple, Ember (voiced by Leah Lewis), is a fire being, and the other half, Wade (voiced by Mamoudou Athie) is a water being, they literally cannot touch. Ember could cause Wade to evaporate, and Wade could douse Ember. They meet when Wade, an inspector of Element City, is somehow washed through a water pipe and ends up in the basement of a shop owned by Ember's father, Bernie (voiced by Ronnie Del Carmen).

Bernie and his wife Cinder (voiced by Shila Ommi) had been immigrants who arrived in Element City, where they experience discrimination toward fire beings. They persevered, building the shop with Bernie's own hands and selling special combustible snacks to other fire beings, and found their own little corner of the world. Ember has been raised expecting to take over the shop, and she awaits the day that her father gives the word. Now Wade tearfully writes up various building code infractions and sends the report to his boss, despite Ember's attempts to stop him. Wade feels bad and agrees to help Ember keep the shop open. During their time together, they discover each other's beauties.

With so much digital technology available, you'd think it would be difficult to create a cityscape that is truly gorgeous, or astonishing, but Elemental does it. It's a multi-colored kaleidoscope of criss-crossing elemental materials that makes you immediately want to see the movie again. The movie also makes technical advances with its characters. According to behind-the-scenes materials, it was extremely difficult to make Ember and Wade — as well as all the other characters — work in a way that suggested both the element itself, as well as a living, breathing character. But, as with the best art, the end result looks easy.

The diverse casting of Lewis and Athie is also an inspired choice, and they lend great layers of feeling to their characters, especially Lewis (The Half of It), who handles Ember's temper in a way that is not off-putting. The movie stumbles just a bit during a typical montage-style dating sequence with a pop song that starts off a little wobbly. But as it goes, it picks up steam and becomes rather catchy. The music score is by the great Thomas Newman, and it's one of his best, springy and with a tropical lift. (Newman has an astonishing fifteen Academy Award nominations and has never won; let's hope this is the one.)

The writing is equally strong. Discussing the immigrant experience, it it lays out the basics of casual and extreme racism (signs that scream "No Fire Allowed"), as well as simple ignorance or mistrust, as when two crude, teenage water beings enter the fire shop and Bernie immediately eyes them with suspicion: "Keep an eye on them." Wade's kindness is discussed as well as a truly profound take on Ember's explosive temper. Wade suggests that maybe a temper is "me trying to tell me something I'm not ready to hear." Finally, the solution as to the physical problem of fire and water coming together is a beautiful thing. Rather than something hot or cold, it's a life-giving warmth... something we can all use.