Pixar’s latest film Elemental has recently released in theaters and isn’t doing that great. Both audiences and critics feel mixed while the box office dropped off a cliff during its opening weekend. But is the film worth becoming a massive flop for Pixar? Is it really that bad? 

The film was directed by Peter Sohn, who has said that this film was a personal project for him. Being the son of Korean immigrants who tried to make their way of life in a new country he wanted to pay homage to them. Sadly both of them passed during the film’s production. The film also tackles interracial relationships as Peter himself is in a mixed marriage. 

So does this personal project all balance out like the four elements? Let’s find out.

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING SECTION CONTAINS SPOILERS. PLEASE CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN DIGRESSION.



The film begins with the parents of Ember moving to Element City where all four elements (Fire, Earth, Water and Air) live together in harmony. Fast forward years later, Ember (Played by: Leah Lewis) is now grown up. Ember is a young fire girl who works at her father’s shop and is in line to inherit the business when her father retires. Ember has a problem when controlling her temper, as she can get so worked up she explodes.

One day while venting her frustrations in the basement, a water guy named Wade (Played by: Mamoudou Athie) bursts through her water pipes. He is a city inspector who got stuck while trying to find a leak. Noticing her father’s building has multiple violations, he rushes to city hall to report them while Ember chases him.



Ember is able to convince Wade to help her situation and agrees to help find the leak in exchange for erasing the building violations. While looking for the leak Ember and Wade spend some time together and get to know one another. They find the source of the leak and block it with sandbags.

Later Wade tells Ember that the sandbags didn’t work, and they go to the beach to grab some more. Ember then opens up to Wade about her family issues and then Wade notices that she can make glass with the sand. Ember gets the idea to fill the dam with glass.

Afterward, Ember sneaks out to meet Wade’s family while her mother follows behind. While having dinner with Wade’s family, she demonstrates her glass skills and Wade’s mother told her that she has a friend looking for an intern to design glass buildings.



Feeling mixed about the offer, she goes home with Wade following her. Ember says that she doesn’t want to run the restaurant and wants to pursue her own path but would feel guilty if she didn’t. Ember’s mother catches up to them and yells at Ember for dating a water boy, but then realizes they are meant to be.

Later Wade takes Ember to an old flooded stadium to show her a flower that she always wanted to see. The two decide to try and touch, risking hurting the other. However, they form steam from their touch, and neither is hurt. But afterward, Ember, full of guilt, leaves to go take over the restaurant from her father.

At the grand re-opening, Wade shows up to confess his love for Ember to the disappointment of her father. Ember says that she doesn’t love Wade, and he leaves.

The glass in the dam breaks and heads towards the fire part of town. Wade comes to help Ember, but the two are trapped in the restaurant. The room they are in gets too hot and Wade starts to evaporate. Ember’s family comes to the rescue but are too late as Wade has fully evaporated.



After telling her father the truth they hear Wade begin to cry, realizing that Wade is still alive as water droplets, Ember begins to tell him things to make him cry. He rains down from the ceiling, and he reforms into a bucket. The two then confess their love and embrace in a kiss.

Ember and Wade then board a ship to travel for Ember’s new internship. Her father is now proud of her and accepts that she loves Wade. The two then leave the city, and all is well in Element City once more.

Analysis:



So many people will definitely bring up some similarities to Zootopia with the giant city of different animals all living together, which is admittedly true. And of course, the concept of the two leads being of two different “peoples” that don’t regularly mix also leans into that comparison. 

The film’s biggest problem, however, is that you will be able to tell what will happen as the story of an interracial/multi-cultural relationship has been told before in many other stories, the most famous examples being West Side Story and Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner.

The weird thing is the part where they investigate the leak in the dam, as it clearly looks like there was some sort of sabotage, leading you to assume there is some villain who is prejudiced against fire and wants to flood them out. But nope, any idea of a mystery story was abandoned rather quickly. Perhaps an earlier draft of the script had that idea.

‘Elemental’s’ second biggest issue is that we only focus on fire and water, none of the other elements like wind or earth were explored aside from a few visual gags. Had the story been more focused, we would have had four protagonists, with each one representing a different element. 

Overall Rating: 5.5/10



While the film itself isn’t really “bad” it just isn’t all that great either. The unoriginal story, mixed with the poor reputation of other recent Pixar films, has definitely driven people away. The film is more of a 5, but it gets an extra half a point for its creative visuals and a few funny jokes here and there.

If you really want to see the film, by all means, go ahead. But it is likely one of those movies you see once and think “I’m good” and never watch it again.