Elemental movie review: Pixar’s latest is a heart-warming beautiful ride
By Ricky Valero
Pixar is returning to theaters this summer with their brand new film Elemental. The film debuted at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival and hits theaters on June 16. We will share our review of the film and let you know if it’s worth checking out in theaters.
Elemental follows Ember and Wade, who live in a city where fire, water, land, and air-residents all live together. Leah Lewis voices Ember, Mamoudou Athia voices Wade with supporting cast members Catherine O’Hara, Shila Ommi, and Ronnie Del Carmen.
The Lumen family has moved from their home country to the world of Elemental, and Bernie has built up this cafe from the ground up that he hopes to one day pass on to his little girl Ember. On the other hand, Ember struggles with being able to keep a level head with customers, and until she gets that under control, her father won’t give a hand over the company.
Of course, Ember struggles to the point where she busts the pipes in the basement of the store leading to her meeting Wade, a building inspector who ends up writing her and her father a bunch of tickets for the number of violations. Regardless of how hard she tries, Ember is unable to get Wade to reconsider him turning in the tickets. One thing leads to another, and not only is Ember fighting to keep her father from finding out, but also the possibility of love.
Elemental might be one of my all-time favorite Pixar movies
One of the things that Pixar has always been good at is their grounded and relatable writing, and they find that groove with this honest, heartfelt storytelling that is equal parts funny, reality, and thought-provoking. In our journey through the world of Elemental, the writers tackle the expectations of kids brought up in immigrant families and how they are expected to run things when it’s their time. It shows that people don’t always have to fit perfectly in the mold of those expectations.
The other thing it explores, and something we’ve never really seen out of Pixar and that, is love. This is Pixar’s first real dive into the world of rom-com, and I loved every moment of it. We have this beautiful foundation of the relationship between two people who “aren’t” supposed to be together in Ember and Wade and how they fall in love regardless of how hard they try. It’s such a beautifully written story highlighting that we can’t help who we love, no matter what they look like.
Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie play Ember and Wade, who are magnificent in the roles. They bring this love story to life in a believable, sweet, and heartfelt way. I would love to explore these characters more in a future film with these two helming the franchise.
When you watch a Pixar film, you expect to see groundbreaking visuals, and Elemental isn’t different. It’s such a visual spectacle that the animation team deserves a ton of credit for the unique and different types that they present throughout the film. Several sequences left me in awe of what I was seeing.
Overall, this might be one of my all-time favorite Pixar movies. Elemental might take a little bit to catch fire, but when it does, my goodness, does it fill your heart up with love and hope. It’s the first rom-com in this space, and I would love to see more in the future. You don’t want to miss this when it hits theaters, see it by yourself or with the whole family.
Elemental hits theaters on June 16, 2023.