“Elemental” Movie Review by Rafy Mediavilla (@Rmediavilla) #PixarsElemental
Disney and Pixar’s “Elemental,” 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.
These past few years we have seen a different side of Disney Pixar, as they continue to put out projects with a totally different approach and mindset in hand. From Onward, Soul, Luca, Turning Red, Lightyear as we see how Disney Pixar story wise is tailoring his storytelling towards a more young adult o even I dare to say adult-oriented audience, specifically with Soul, and Lighthyear dealing with subjects about loss that kids will have a tough time understanding.
With Elemental we see Disney Pixar trying a middle-ground approach story-wise, where the family drama of saving the family business and taking over your parent’s hard work may be something kids will not fully grasp, but the whole romantic comedy between our two leads with the opposite attract mentally is something everyone can relate to. But even with the 90 min plus change runtime kids will have a tough time truly trying to enjoy the movie solely from the colorful animation alone.
Much like Onward. Luca, and Lightyear how dive into the development and understanding of interpersonal skills, Elemenals also borrows from Soul the factor of entering into more mature subjects such as race, and segregation between communities and families alike which I absolutely loved but also understood that kids will not grasp. I felt Disney Pixar tried to do too much with Elemental trying to balance out the romantic comedy between the serious social commentary hidden behind it all.
Animation wise not much can be said about their top-notch flawless animation. I believe that Disney Pixar stands on its own level in the animation department. And while Elemental in my opinion is not the best movie produced by Disney Pixar overall, few studios can come close to what they have done throughout the years. If anything Sony Pictures Animation is the closes competitor animation-wise to Disney Pixar, and even then I feel they are on another level on their own.
In the end, Elemental works as intended, maybe is not Disney Pixar’s mostly award-worthy project but it gets the jobs done with this stunning animation and a romantic dramedy that will hit home given the right audience.
