Jun 16, 2023

-Elemental Critique Roundup: pros and cons for Pixar's latest film

When Pixar's "Elemental" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, the film industry was full of pessimistic predictions that the juggernaut that "Toy Story" had built would play another flop. Early reviews were unenthusiastic, and box office forecasters predicted that the film would struggle in the crowded June calendar.

While that may be true, there seems to be more to this story than the initial reactions shared from the French Riviera would indicate. Looking at the Rotten Tomatoes Critics' Ratings for the film, which aggregates all the critics' reviews, Peter Sohn's film receives a 75% "neither acceptable nor unacceptable" rating.

Considering only the top tier of critics' reviews, many of which were posted several weeks ago, this score drops to 62%. This is a huge disconnect and perhaps indicates that Disney made a major mistake when deciding to debut the film at Cannes. Certainly, a screening at Cannes adds gravitas to any film's resume, but if the lofty audience of the world's most prestigious film festival rejects a film aimed at the widest possible audience, it could have a major impact on the film's commercial prospects.

In the Elemental Review Roundup, we decided after the Cannes premiere to only feature reviews published this week, not those published last month. We believe that by doing so, we can provide a perspective that is closer to our readership and the audience the film is intended for. Looking at the new reviews, there is a consensus that the film is visually stunning. However, in terms of story and entertainment value, most people seem to consider it "great" rather than "good". Still, after a disappointing Cannes premiere, the reaction has been positive.

"Elemental" is set in Element City, a New York City motif where the inhabitants of fire, water, land, and air live together. The film is a romantic comedy featuring Ember Lumen, a fiery young woman, and Wade Ripple, a go-with-the-flow type of man. Their relationship challenges their beliefs about the world they live in.

Here is what critics have to say about Peter Thorne's "Elemental," which opens today.

CNN's Brian Lowry enjoyed the film, but it won't be among the studio's best:

Pixar set the bar so high for itself with a dizzying array of early hits that rough waters were probably inevitable, and a 50% batting average for the last half-dozen films has brought the company has been brought back down to earth. While "Elemental" is hardly a member of the studio's hallowed top tier, it does produce moments of magic and beauty worthy of its legacy--reflecting both the immigrant experience and the power of love. [It's hard not to feel a little hazy when fire and water come together, as depicted here.

Manuel Betancourt, a contributor to the AV Club, praised the film's innovative visuals, but argued that the storyline did not rise to that level:

The way the fire, water, earth and wind characters move through the city is visually inventive (some water has perception (although I kept wondering why some waters have perception and others do not). In fact, some of the best gags in the film come from Song's animation team's playful depiction of Element City: ...... The way Wade and Amber interact with each other is quite artistic, but I couldn't find a story in "Elemental" that was as captivating as that one. The painstakingly explained subplot (the blue flame of the Lumens family, but possibly part of their hometown heritage) has an equally underdeveloped story (who would have guessed that a failure of infrastructure would be the ultimate villain of the piece?)

Echoing a similar sentiment that came up many times in the reviews we read, Katie Walsh of the Los Angeles Times wrote The concept of the film may have been inspired by Pixar animators' desire for an opportunity to prove that they are adept at handling difficult substances such as fire and water. The surfaces of the characters are in constant motion. Faces of fire shimmer and crackle with watercolor-like grace, bubbles float through the bodies of watery people, shimmering, popping, and clumping together with an unctuous viscosity. It is a spectacularly detailed rendition of animation skill and technique. The environment of Element City is vividly rendered, and Firetown in particular is a vague melange of Asian, Eastern European, and Middle Eastern influences, reflected in Thomas Newman's score.

Amy Nicholson, in a less than complimentary review in The New York Times, wrote:

"Elemental" is Pixar's latest film that makes you feel like someone laced ayahuasca in a cafeteria kombucha keg. eight years ago, " Starting with "Inside Out," Pixar has turned animation into a kind of group therapy, encouraging audiences to ruminate on inner peace, death ("Coco"), and resurrection ("Soul"). This story is simpler (even naive). It's a good cross-cultural romantic comedy about a girl and a boy that makes you want to root for a big kiss. But from which culture does the psychotropic glamour of the Pixar brand come? Here, the four classical elements used by the ancient philosopher Empedocles to describe our world-water, earth, air, and fire-subtlely coexist in the Element City, a similar Manhattan institution founded by the first drops of water oozing from the primordial sea...

"Elemental" seems like the production of a company that has run out of ideas. In part, this may be true. But it follows a long tradition of humanity turning to water, earth, air, and fire to understand itself. Just please don't let anyone tell Pixar that Aristotle added ether as the fifth element and that physicists interpreted it as dark matter or void. My brain cannot handle a sequel.

Alison Wilmore of Vulture magazine seemed to echo the general feeling of critics that the film looks great but lacks the other virtues that make a good movie. Comparing Thorne's latest film to his previous film, The Good Dinosaur, she said: [Elemental] is the second feature film from Pixar heavyweight Peter Thorne, who has been at Pixar since 2000 but is now 2-0-0 as a director. Elemental City is filled with imaginative details about how its various inhabitants live their lives in close proximity. The alternate history premise of Thorn's 2015 debut, "The Good Dinosaur," also felt like it needed a few more passes, but the stakes seemed lower because it was set in a world dominated by dinosaurs that never went extinct. Son has said that "Elemental" was inspired by his own parents, growing up in multicultural New York City, and his own mixed-race marriage, but his film's lack of deep reflection on the idea has led to some ugly reductiveness.