The unsung hero behind the best Pixar films is the story—the nuanced, inventive, resonant-for-all-ages narrative that provides a foundation for the indelible characters and dazzling animation. Elemental feels like a Pixar first draft, in story terms. The movie begins as a childlike, picture-book metaphor for the immigrant experience, as Fire parents Bernie and Cinder (Ronnie del Carmen and Shila Ommi) move with their young daughter Ember (Leah Lewis) to Element City. Opening their own shop in a neighborhood filled with other Fire folks, they raise her to follow in their footsteps and keep separate from the different elements in the city: Water, Earth, and Air. But when a Water inspector named Wade (Mamoudou Athie) shows up investigating a series of leaks, Ember begins to question her cloistered existence. Elemental then becomes something of a city-hall drama—the plot actually hinges on a civil engineering project—as well as a more mature interracial romance as Ember and Wade grow closer. The movie swerves unsteadily among subplots and sensibilities. And yet, spirited voice work from Lewis as Ember and the expectedly stunning animation save this from being a total Pixar miss. I like the way director Peter Sohn (The Good Dinosaur) and the animation team manage to employ multiple styles within the same frame. Ember and her family have the shimmer of cellophane, while Wade and the other Water characters resemble old-school, hand-drawn animation. The backgrounds, meanwhile, boast that photorealistic look that becomes more and more tactile with each new Pixar movie. Still, as advanced as the technical artistry gets, the studio will always need a strong story.
(6/10/2023)
