Elemental

Peter Sohn directs Pixar’s first original cinema release since the beginning of the pandemic. Ember (Leah Lewis) works in her family shop, daughter of Bernie (Ronnie Del Carmen) and Cinder (Shila Ommi), fire elements who were amongst the first to settle in what is now Fire Town on the edge of Element City. A city which is the home to a mix of elements, including water, air and land. Life is simple until Ember meets Wade (Mamoudou Athie) a water element. A meeting that takes Ember into new territory in Element City, new relationships and new and challenging feelings.

Elemental does the thing that Pixar does well in taking a grown up topic and turning into a warm and charming story. It is a story about immigration, integration, history and balancing respecting heritage with making the way in a new world.

It’s not trying to be subtle in covering it, from arriving to the new world on boats and turned away from lodgings with “No fire” signs on doors and building a community in a ghetto. But that it never veers into overly dark, while making its point. Alongside thesd struggles is a heartwarming story about family and new love.

The voice cast is at the high level you expect. Of course the animation looks fantastic and is accompanied by a fine score. The story moves along at a nice pace and their is plenty of humour along the way. At 101 minutes it never drags. But it never quite reaches the emotionally engaging heights that the best Pixar films do. This is illustrated by the Carl’s Date short before it, which reminds you just how good Pixar are at their best.

Elemental is a solid rather than spectacular Pixar film. It looks incredible and has plenty of warmth and charm. The voice cast are great and the story zips along. But it never quite reaches peak Pixar. But solid and original Pixar is still better than most which makes this enjoyable enough.