Grab your tissues, the new Pixar movie is about to hit theaters. Filled with a story that will pull at your heartstrings and take you on an adventure in a beautiful new world. Elemental takes you to a whole new world within the Pixar universe where different elements are living beings and while they have their elemental properties, they have full lives similar to ours.
After immigrating from Fireland to Elemental City, Bernie and Cinder Lumen want nothing more than the best for their daughter Ember. Running a store in their neighborhood, the goal is to have Ember take over when Bernie finally retires, but her temper runs too hot – literally. In a moment of uncontrolled anger, Ember accidentally causes a leak in the shop’s basement and that leak sucks in a city inspector Wade. While Ember seems to need things done a certain way, Wade is a lot more fluid and goes with the flow. Their two personalities seem to be at odds, and Fire people and Water people don’t mix. But their budding friendship seems to develop into something more.
Elemental hits on a lot of different, and important topics along the way. From immigration and how it affects families overall, to how they are treated in a different society. It goes deeper into the different generations and what is expected by their families and culture along the way. It also highlights the pressure felt by children of immigrants (or in general) to not disappoint their parent’s expectations, even if it means ignoring their own dreams.
The movie also covers in a broader way racism and the separation of the different elements and preconceived notions. While to Wade, his friendship and feelings for Ember don’t seem out of place, everything she’s been raised with tells her otherwise. Their elements shouldn’t mix, but they find that with some time and understanding, they can and do. The message is there with broad strokes but acceptance of other cultures and each other is one of the main messages throughout the movie.
Elemental is nothing short of a beautiful movie. The artists at Pixar have no doubt created another beautiful world and universe for fans and audiences to explore. The rendering of the water and fire elements, both previously virtually impossible to pull off, come off as not only authentic but realistic to the point it may question if some of the elements were practical instead of digitally created.
Beyond the rendering and artistic side of the movie, there is a much deeper message of inclusion and finding your own path. The movie takes you on a journey that fights against familial pressures and helps Ember find her own destiny and support along the way. While it may not be reflective of every immigrant’s story, it’s one that many will relate to, and audience members can understand even if you’re not from a recently immigrated family.
Overall, Elemental doesn’t have anything majorly objectionable for younger viewers as well. There are a couple of play-on-words that get awful close to swear words, but no bad language or extremely scary parts of the movie that would have parents concerned about their kids watching the movie. The premise is pretty simple – inclusion, acceptance, and following your passion are the ultimate goal. And ideally, isn’t that what we all want in life?
Elemental will be in theaters everywhere on June 16th.
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About Elemental:
Disney and Pixar’s “Elemental” is an all-new, original feature film set in Element City, where fire-, water-, land- and air-residents live together. The story introduces Ember, a tough, quick-witted and fiery young woman, whose friendship with a fun, sappy, go-with-the-flow guy named Wade challenges her beliefs about the world they live in. Directed by Peter Sohn (“The Good Dinosaur,” “Partly Cloudy” short), produced by Denise Ream (“The Good Dinosaur,” “Cars 2”), and featuring the voices of Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie as Ember and Wade, respectively, “Elemental” releases on June 16, 2023.
(DISNEY AND PIXAR)
This film is not yet rated.