'Elemental' A Review

Elemental is an animated family romcom about anthropomorphized elements living in a city. Ember is conflicted about running her immigrant father's shop, during a pipe burst she has an accidental encounter with Wade, a city inspector, who reluctantly gives the building multiple citations. The two then work together to save the shop and fall in love in the process.

The voice cast is all talented but emotionally the movie doesn't really get off the ground. The script is trying to do too much, the allegory too convoluted and muddled, and as a result so is the narrative. Its cute, it looks great, although could have used some songs, but its thin and predictable. 

Not that every Pixar movie needs to reinvent the wheel but it seems recently they have fallen prey to Disney's inevitable homogenization. It feels like something we've seen before many times, its made of parts and sequences and scenes we've seen before many times, the setting and the fact the characters are elements is new, cool even, but what they do with it is pretty rote. Too much time is devoted to the inter-elemental conflict as well as the machinations of the store and too little is spent on what, presumably, should be the focus- the romance of the two main characters. Story and emotion are sacrificed for furthering the momentum of the plot.

A cheese plate appetizer rather than a meal, fills the belly but doesn't quite satisfy.

Currently streaming on Disney+.

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