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At its best, Pixar is unbeatable, making clever, charming, and brightly original films to touch the heart and spark the imagination. And so it’s been dispiriting to see the animation studio behind such emotive triumphs as “ Toy Story ,” “ Ratatouille ,” “ Up ,” and “ Inside Out ”—among the best films of their respective years, bar none—recently fall short of its past standard of excellence. 

It’s not just that modern-day Pixar has focused on reprising its greatest hits with a parade of sequels (“ Toy Story 4 ,” “ Incredibles 2 ,” “ Lightyear ”), or that the studio’s slate of recent originals (“ Soul ,” “ Luca ,” “ Turning Red ”) have all, oddly enough, centered on characters transforming into animals (a revealing trope for its prevalence in films about feeling different, whose initially diverse protagonists invariably spend most of the runtime covered in fur or scales). Also absent lately at Pixar, a subsidiary of Disney since 2006, is the mastery of execution that had distinguished the studio, a brilliance for establishing high-concept premises and effortlessly navigating their particulars. 

“Elemental,” Disney and Pixar’s latest, feels emblematic of the studio’s struggle to recapture its original magic, making a mess of its world-building in service of a conventional story that fails the talent of the animators involved. Set in a world where natural elements—earth, fire, water, air—coexist in a New York-style metropolis, each representing different social classes, the film—directed by Peter Sohn , from a screenplay by John Hoberh, Kat Likkel , and Brenda Hsueh —aims high with that central metaphor but is set immediately off-balance by its unwieldiness as racial allegory, an issue compounded by haphazard pacing and writing so flatly predictable it suggests a Pixar film authored by an AI algorithm. At times bordering on the nonsensical, the film feels under-developed rather than universal, a colorful missed opportunity. 

Presented as the closing-night selection of the 76th Cannes Film Festival, ahead of its stateside release in mid-June, “Elemental” envisions a densely populated urban sprawl similar to that of Disney’s anthrozoomorphic “ Zootopia ,” in which ideas of racial discrimination were uneasily reduced to “predator and prey” dynamics to allow for a story that focused more on dismantling personal prejudices than systemic racism. In Element City, a similarly ill-advised simplification is at work (though Sohn has explained that his Korean heritage and desire to make a film about assimilation fueled some of the creative decisions), and there’s even a similar eyebrow to raise with regard to the legitimate danger that these contrasting elements, like foxes to rabbits, pose to one another. 

In “Elemental,” socially privileged water people flow back and forth through slickly designed high-rises and have no issue splashing down the city’s grand canals and monorails, which were designed for their gelatinous-blob bods, whereas fire folk are sequestered to Firetown, where their tight-knit community reflects East Asian, Middle Eastern, and European traditions—and accents run the gamut from Italian to Jamaican, Iranian, and West Indian, in a way that uncomfortably positions fire as representative as all immigrants and water as representative of the white upper-class. Earth and air, meanwhile, barely register; we see earth people who sprout daisies from their dirt-brown armpits, and cotton candy-esque cloud puffs playing “airball” in Cyclone Stadium, but the film is surprisingly non-committal in imagining the chemistry of inner-city elements interacting. Background sight gags abound, such as the “hot logs” that fire folk chow down on, but the actual ins and outs of Element City are explored only superficially, such as the revelation that all these elements take advantage of the same public transit. Replete with computer-generated inhabitants and generic modernist structures, its milieu feels more like concept art, to be further detailed at some point in the animation process, than a fully thought-through, lived-in environment.

“Elemental” centers on hot-tempered Ember Lumen ( Leah Lewis , of “ The Half of It ”), a second-generation immigrant who works as an assistant in her father’s bodega shop. Fire people who emigrated from Fireland, from whence they brought spicy food and rigid cultural traditions of honor and lineage, Ember and her father Útrí dár ì Bùrdì ( Ronnie del Carmen )—though he and his wife Fâsh ì Síddèr ( Shila Ommi ) had their names Anglicized to Bernie and Cinder at the “Elemental” equivalent of Ellis Island—have a close relationship as he readies her to take over the family business. Ember, though, is questioning whether or not she truly wants to inherit the store, as her beloved “ashfa” says he expects, or whether her gifts—such as the ability to heat a hot-air balloon and mold glass with her hands—might lead her in another direction. 

Unable to control her emotions, which can take her from red-hot into a more ominous purple shade, Ember one day ruptures a pipe in her father’s shop, at which point city inspector Wade ( Mamoudou Athie ) gushes in. Wade’s been investigating the city’s dilapidated canal system, searching for the source of a leak that keeps flooding Ember’s basement but imperils all of Firetown. Determined to keep her father’s business from going under, Ember pursues and then quickly joins forces with Wade. As romance sparks between the two, they make for a particularly odd couple given one of the film’s less-than-convincing rules: that “elements don’t mix,” for reasons both practical and parochial, in Element City. Ember might extinguish Wade, while he could douse her flame, but their inevitably steamy romance is moreso forbidden because her father would never approve, setting up “Elemental” as an interracial love story, the kind Pixar hasn’t yet told with human characters.

From there, the film works like a checklist of Pixar storytelling clichés, its two opposites at first getting on one another’s last nerve but gradually forming a close bond, before separating over what amounts to a basic misunderstanding, which is resolved in climactic fashion as the two rescue one another from a looming threat and rekindle their love. Still, as the plot’s frantically paced chain reaction of events keeps Ember and Wade together, their relationship becomes the film’s slight but endearing center, a welcome respite from the mixed metaphors and misshapen conceptual mechanics that often threaten to break the story’s inner reality. (Why, for example, is what will happen if Ember and Wade touch such a mystery to them both, in a city whose ceramic and terracotta glass structures point to other elements interacting?) 

Lewis voices Ember with a playful warmth that nicely complements the bubbling affability that Athie brings to Wade, while the animation of both their bodies—hers flickering then suddenly ablaze with emotion, heat wafting upward; his fluid and transparent, prone to collapsing into a puddle on the ground—is always exciting to look at, emphasizing malleability and dabbling in abstraction. 

But even the film’s promising use of color, form, and movement feels hemmed in by the unimaginative storytelling. Only a few standout sequences—a visit to an underwater garden of Vivisteria flowers, a detour into hand-drawn animation that tells a love story in minimal, swirling lines—separate “Elemental” from any other Pixar film in which the characters are phosphorescent little blobs traveling through realistically animated cityscapes, and as rapidly as the film progresses it never goes anywhere unexpected. 

There’s similarly nothing in “Elemental” to recall the wondrous aesthetic imagination of modern Pixar classics like “ Finding Nemo ” and “ Wall-E ,” with the exception of a rich score by composer Thomas Newman that takes its cues from a potpourri of global musical traditions and presents a more fully formed vision of cross-cultural exchange than the film’s muddled depiction of immigrant communities. Perhaps fittingly for a film that would have more accurately been titled “When Fire Met Water…,” “Elemental” is combustible enough from minute to minute, but it evaporates from memory the second you leave the theater.

This review was filed from the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. "Elemental" is now playing in theaters.

Isaac Feldberg

Isaac Feldberg is an entertainment journalist currently based in Chicago, who’s been writing professionally for nine years and hopes to stay at it for a few more.

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Elemental (2023)

Rated PG for some peril, thematic elements and brief language.

102 minutes

Leah Lewis as Ember Lumen (voice)

Mamoudou Athie as Wade Ripple (voice)

Ronnie del Carmen as Bernie Lumen (voice)

Shila Ommi as Cinder Lumen (voice)

Wendi McLendon-Covey as Gale (voice)

Catherine O'Hara as Brook Ripple (voice)

Mason Wertheimer as Clod (voice)

Ronobir Lahiri as Harold (voice)

Wilma Bonet as Flarrietta (voice)

Joe Pera as Fern (voice)

Matthew Yang King as Alan / Lutz / Earth Pruner (voice)

Clara Lin Ding as Little Kid Ember (voice)

Reagan To as Big Kid Ember (voice)

Writer (story)

• John Hoberg
• Brenda Hsueh

Cinematographer

• David Juan Bianchi
• Jean-Claude Kalache
• Stephen Schaffer
• Thomas Newman

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‘Elemental’ Review: Sparks Fly

The latest movie from Disney/Pixar tucks a romantic comedy inside a high-concept premise. It’s smoldering and splashy.

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By Amy Nicholson

“Elemental” is the latest Pixar premise to feel like someone laced the cafeteria’s kombucha keg with ayahuasca. Starting eight years ago with “Inside Out,” the animation company has transformed cartoons into a form of group therapy that encourages audiences to ruminate on inner peace, death (“Coco”) and resurrection (“Soul”). This story is simpler (elemental, even). It’s a girl-meets-boy cross-cultural romantic comedy — a good one that woos us to root for the big kiss. But the Pixar-brand psychotropic flourish comes from which cultures. Here, they are water, earth, air and fire — the four classical elements that the ancient philosopher Empedocles used to explain our world — all tenuously coexisting in Element City, a Manhattan analogue founded by the first droplet to ooze out of the primordial sea. The girl, Ember Lumen (voiced by Leah Lewis), is a leggy lick of flame; her crush, Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie), is a drip. When she brushes near him, his body roils. Steamy.

This setup sounds strange and looks stranger. Yet, the four classical elements are one of civilization’s great unifiers, a cosmological theory shared by the Hindu Vedas, the Buddhist Mahabhuta, the Kongo cosmogram, the Indigenous medicine wheel and the zodiac. We’ve long interpreted life through water, earth, air and fire. Now, the trick is to see the life in them, once we squint past the visually overwhelming chaos of Element City, a smelting pot of puns and allusions.

You’d have to freeze-frame each scene to absorb all the sight gags: fire-mommies pushing fire-babies in BBQ grills, tree-couples tenderly harvesting each other’s apples, luxury tower aquariums with sunken swimming pools for a living room, whirlwind basketball games that hawk souvenir cloud-shaped pants. Even then, the yuks spillith over into the closing credits whose margins are cluttered with funny bits of illustrated flotsam like Lighterfinger candy bars and Sizzlemint gum.

The suspension of disbelief is so staggering that one flaw in the execution would cause the whole gimmick to collapse. I decided to trust the director, Peter Sohn, during the opening sequence. As Ember’s future parents, Bernie and Cinder (Ronnie del Carmen and Shila Ommi) disembark upon a bizarro Ellis Island, all-too-aware that they’re two of the earliest fireball émigrés, I clocked her father’s chain mail pants and relaxed. Metal knickers are the kind of minutia that tells you Sohn and the three screenwriters (John Hoberg, Kat Likkel and Brenda Hsueh) have pored over every corner of their high concept, allowing us to make the mental switch from scanning the landscape suspiciously to marveling in the details.

The staggering design ambition balances out the plot’s affecting, relatable ordinariness, which kicks in a couple of decades after the Lumens settle in and open a store that ignites a thriving fire community. By the time Ember is an adult, the Firish (as in “Kiss Me, I’m…”) have erected blocks of residential kilns that resemble a modernized Cappadocia. Yet, there’s no forgetting that Element City was once a wets-only town. The Wetro light rail zipping overhead creates a splash zone of urban blight in its wake.

Ember expects to inherit the family shop. Then Wade bursts through the pipes. Smartly, the couple’s differences aren’t just tactile — they’re cultural. A child of immigration and sacrifice, she’s overworked, emotionally burdened, vulnerable to being snuffed and prone to explode. He’s a preppy, soft-bellied blue-blood comfortable wearing his emotions on (or rather, soaking through) his sleeves. Even his name — Wade Ripple — belongs inside a champagne bucket in Kennebunkport.

The film’s loveliest stretches watch the pair tentatively discover each other’s habitats. She’s enchanted by (and quietly resentful of) his confidence that he’s welcome anywhere. He finds purpose encouraging her to forge through a society inclined to see her as distracting (dark movie theaters are a no-go), off-putting (what’s with that flamin’ hot food!) and dangerous (look out when her temper ticks past its flashpoint).

Their romance doesn’t rush a beat. Oddly, it’s the most human rom-com in years. There’s no villain, no phony contrivances, and the mandatory breakup is well-buttressed by the script. The running time is strung together from dozens of perceptive moments and the occasional stunning set-piece. A near-wordless scuba dive (a callback to WALL-E and Eva’s space ballet?) plays like a swoony Bollywood interlude alongside Thomas Newman’s gentle, semi-acoustic score, which could double as a mood-setter at a meditation retreat. This is what animation should do: wow us with expressive, impossible wonders rather than reimagining Flounder from “The Little Mermaid” as a photorealistic fish.

“Elemental” seems like a stunt from a company running dry on ideas. Perhaps that’s partially true. Yet, it’s in the tradition of mankind’s long history looking to water, earth, air and fire to understand itself. Only, please, nobody tell Pixar that Aristotle added a fifth element, ether, which physicists interpret as dark matter or the void. My brain can’t handle a sequel.

Elemental Rated PG. Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes. In theaters.

An earlier version of this review described incorrectly the humor in “Elemental.” It included jokes about breaking wind; those jokes weren’t completely absent from the film.

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‘elemental’ review: pixar’s timely high-concept bonanza underwhelms.

Director Peter Sohn ('The Good Dinosaur') tells the story of a fire family immigrating to a metropolis dominated by the opposing element of water, and the romance that ensues.

By Jordan Mintzer

Jordan Mintzer

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Everyone has their favorite Pixar movie — mine is Coco , with Wall-E and Ratatouille very close seconds — and no matter which title you prefer in the game-changing animation studio’s catalogue, almost every one of them feels unique. (The Cars and Toy Story sequels aside, although even some of those were fresh and original).  

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Which brings us to Elemental . The studio’s 27 th feature, has, well, all the elements that make up a great Pixar movie: A high-concept pitch that could only be rendered via dazzling state-of-the-art computer animation; a serious overarching theme about ethnic strife and racial tolerance; humor for both kids and adults, although this one is more geared toward the 10-and-under set; a plot that hits all the right beats at exactly the right time.

It’s all there — so much so that Elemental may be the first work from Pixar to feel like it was generated entirely by AI. Not just the AI computing all the imagery, but literally an algorithm putting together a perfect Pixar movie. The problem, of course, is that the originality is mostly absent here, as is the thematic risk-taking that drove films like Wall-E (the planet almost dies!) or Inside Out (Bing Bong dies!) or Coco (people die!).

In Elemental , Pixar’s usual ambitious leap into the unknown is more of a safe dip into calm waters — water being one of the four elements driving the story, although only two of them really count here — and much about it seems familiar. This doesn’t mean it won’t be at least a modest summer hit when Disney releases it mid-June, following a premiere in Cannes on the festival’s closing night. But the wow-factor has kind of been lost at this point, and what we’re left with feels like just another Pixar movie.

Arriving by boat in the city’s equivalent of Ellis Island, an immigrant couple, Bernie Lumen (Ronnie Del Carmen) and his wife, Cinder (Shila Omni), have come all the way from their home country of Fireland to give a new life to their baby daughter, Ember (Leah Lewis). Without much in the way of money or connections, and as members of the Fire minority, they end up in the working-class neighborhood of Fire Town, where Bernie opens a grocery store called Fireplace that caters to other Fire people like himself.

If you’ve already had enough of all these wink-wink names and rather facile jokes, there’s lots more to come in a movie that strives to find humor in its parallel urban universe of walking conflagrations, blobs of H2O, floating cloud puffs and what basically look like old tree stumps. (Earth is definitely given short shrift here, with most of its characters coming across as dull as dirt. Or is that just another pun?)

But as Paula Abdul famously predicted, opposites attract, and so Ember and Wade start to grow fond of each other, even if they can’t make any physical contact because, well, you get it. The Pixar story algorithm takes over at that point, with the two facing all sorts of obstacles as they fall in love despite their inherent differences, pushing Ember to hide the relationship from a proud father who prefers her to stay back in Fire Town.

Water has always been a tricky substance for animators, and what Sohn and his team do with it, especially once Ember starts visiting downtown Elemental City with Wade, can be impressive to behold. The wide-ranging color palette includes a gazillion shades of blue, turquoise and green that this partly colorblind critic felt almost assaulted by, and the whole setting looks like Shanghai’s Pudong district dipped into a giant aquarium. Another innovation involves characters whose faces and bodies are filled with constant internal motion, whether swarming with flames or churning with fluids.

That, and a few charmingly funny sequences — especially a visit that Ember and Wade pay to the latter’s overbearing bougie mom (Catherine O’Hara) — cannot, however, compensate for the film’s major flaw, which is that it feels entirely predictable. Maybe we’ve all seen too many Pixar movies by now, and so if Element were the studio’s first-ever release instead of its umpteenth one, it would seem more surprising, more daring.

His story proves more involving than a romance between Ember and Wade that goes exactly where you think it will, underlining the many hardships, whether personal or societal, faced by people of different races trying to stick together. Had Pixar perhaps taken more risks with that plotline, they might have pleased a smaller demographic than such a project requires to be profitable, but they might also have delivered a movie on par with some of their best work. Instead, the elements all fit perfectly into place — so much so that the creative flames are doused, and we’re left without much of an impression.

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2012, Documentary, 1h 32m

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Elemental   photos.

Three nature obsessed outsiders are driven to change the status quo.

Genre: Documentary

Original Language: English

Director: Gayatri Roshan , Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee

Producer: Gayatri Roshan , Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee

Writer: Gayatri Roshan

Release Date (Streaming): May 22, 2017

Runtime: 1h 32m

Production Co: Go Project Films

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Gayatri Roshan

Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee

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H. Scott Salinas

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Emily Topper

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'Elemental' Review: Disney Pixar Replays Its Greatest Hits in This Formulaic Rom-Com

Even with some fantastic character designs, this latest animation from the studio is underwhelming and formulaic.

This review was originally part of our coverage for the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

It's a story as old as time: two characters from different and opposing cultures become star-crossed lovers and their love helps bridge the gap between people. Elemental is, at its core, a romantic comedy. While Disney Pixar joints have hinted at romance before, this is the first time the storyline has been so overtly romantic. The film follows the characters Ember Lumen ( Leah Lewis ) and Wade Ripple ( Mamoudou Athie ), a fire and water element respectively. After a comedic meet-cute, the two forge out on a mission together to uncover a mystery that is plaguing the fire neighborhood, but what really matters is the bond the two form.

RELATED: ‘Elemental’: 25 Things We Learned About the Pixar Movie During Our Visit

'Elemental' Feels a Bit Too Similar to Another Disney Movie

There's nothing particularly awful about Elemental . It's beautifully animated, has a fantastic soundtrack courtesy of Thomas Newman , and the story is a heartwarming one about love, growth, and acceptance. However, there's also nothing particularly amazing about Elemental either. Set in a world where the elements of fire, water, earth, and air live together, the us versus them mentality of the other elements' prejudice against fire feels very familiar.

In fact, a lot of aspects of Elemental feel familiar to a certain other Disney film: Zootopia . From the fantasy world that personifies animals (in Elemental 's case its elements) to the opposites attract dynamic between the leads, it's difficult not to draw direct comparisons to Disney's 2016 hit film. Sprawling shots of the cities make the two universes feel artistically linked. There's even a scene where Wade and Ember try to get information from a slow-moving earth element that works at Wade's office named Fern ( Joe Pera ). The slow-talking Fern feels distinctly similar to Zootopia 's Flash ( Raymond S. Persi ), the "fastest" sloth working at the DMV.

The Use of the Immigrant Story Feels Overly Exaggerated

Conceptually, it makes sense that the two stories will share some similarities, but Elemental also feels very formulaic when looking closer at the story. Director Peter Sohn said that they drew inspiration from rom-coms like Moonstruck and You've Got Mail , and it's easy to see that. There won't be any big shocks when it comes to the romance between Wade and Ember and the film often leans into the stereotypes of the genre rather than away from them.

Ember's family immigrated from the fire land to start a new life, and her parents Bernie ( Ronnie del Carmen ) and Cinder ( Shila Ommi ) feel like the cookie-cutter immigrant story. Of course, that's not to say that there is actually just one singular immigrant story as every person who immigrates has their own experience. But Elemental leans heavily into the not-so-subtle metaphor of the fire elements being the othered group of people in the city. They experience extreme discrimination as fire elements, they're sectioned into their own enclave in the city, and they even speak their own language.

It's obvious that Sohn and perhaps some of the other writers have an attachment to the immigrant story, and that's understandable. I was also raised by immigrants parents who came to the United States with little to nothing and had to work hard from the ground up, sacrificing along the way just so that I could have the life they never had. But, this is a familiar story that Elemental handles in a clumsy and ham-fisted way. Narratives about identity are important, but Elemental lacks the delicate nuance needed to tell these stories.

'Elemental' Is Visually Beautiful but Colors Inside the Lines

Story aside, there is no doubt that the animators have done a fantastic job when it comes to the animation of Elemental . The character design is fittingly adorable and unique. Watching the elements interact and use their elemental abilities to shape the land, specifically Ember's use of sand to create glass sculptures, is mesmerizing.

Scenes where we see Ember and Wade exploring a flooded tunnel or watch as Ember's flame changes color when she touches mineral rocks are pieces of art, especially when coupled with Newman's score. In many ways, it's a pity that the story is not as strong as the animation. The film's inability to color outside the lines makes a story that is undeniably endearing feel underwhelming, neither unique nor original.

Elemental is in theaters starting June 16.

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Follows Ember and Wade, in a city where fire-, water-, earth- and air-residents live together. Follows Ember and Wade, in a city where fire-, water-, earth- and air-residents live together. Follows Ember and Wade, in a city where fire-, water-, earth- and air-residents live together.

• John Hoberg
• Brenda Hsueh
• Mamoudou Athie
• Ronnie Del Carmen
• 442 User reviews
• 226 Critic reviews
• 58 Metascore
• 1 win & 64 nominations total

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• Trivia The film is based on director Peter Sohn 's life with his parents immigrating to the USA from Korea - not speaking English and settling into the Bronx. Sohn's family also opened a grocery store named Sohn's Fruits and Vegetables - similar to Ember's family in the film.
• Goofs When Ember leaves for the date at Alkali theater, she's wearing a jacket with a hood. After the date when she and Wade enter the elevator, the jacket is gone and the hood is now part of her dress.

Ember : Dad. . . this is all my fault. The shop, Wade . . . I need to tell you the truth. I don't want to run the shop. I know it was your dream, but it's not mine. I'm sorry. I'm a bad daughter.

Ember : Ember, the shop was never the dream. You were the dream. You were always the dream.

Ember : I loved him, Dad.

• Crazy credits At the end of the credits, there is a blue flame shrine that pays tribute to Pixar animators who all died in 2022 or 2023: Ralph Eggleston , Thomas Gonzales , Amber Martorelli, and J. Garett Sheldrew .
• Connections Featured in AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast: It's Time to Get Things Started (2022)
• Soundtracks Steal the Show Music by Lauv (as Ari Leff) and Thomas Newman Lyrics by Lauv (as Ari Leff) and Michael Matosic Performed by Lauv Produced by Lauv and Thomas Newman Mixed by Mike Crossey

User reviews 442

• IonicBreezeMachine
• Jun 20, 2023
• How long is Elemental? Powered by Alexa
• June 16, 2023 (United States)
• United States
• Walt Disney Feature Animation - 500 S. Buena Vista Street, Burbank, California, USA
• Walt Disney Pictures
• Pixar Animation Studios
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $200,000,000 (estimated)
• $154,426,697
• $29,602,429
• Jun 18, 2023
• $496,444,308

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 41 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Atmos
• Dolby Surround 7.1
• D-Cinema 96kHz Dolby Surround 7.1
• D-Cinema 96kHz 7.1

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Elemental review – fire and water fall in love in multicoloured, unworldly Pixar fable

Decent family entertainment set in the city of four elements, with a message of acceptance in bricks of colour and concepts as if originated via algorithm

H ere is a perfectly decent, personable family entertainment from Pixar , based around another of this studio’s oddly pedantic and algorithmically developed abstract high concepts: what if fire and water fell in love? It is also a star-crossed love story based on that most traditional of American themes: melting-pot diversity in the big city.

The scene is another fabular alt-reality: Element City, a place of vivid colours and shapes like a toy held up in front of a newborn. Here, the creatures of the four elements – fire, water, earth and air – have come together to live, if not in harmony exactly, then a kind of boisterous acceptance. There is, however, a bigoted caste system that means that fire creatures are looked down on, maybe in the way the US’s northern European identities look down on people from hotter countries.

Each of them comes from an old country where they were members of the only element-ethnicity. Bernie and Cindy Lumen (voiced by Ronnie Del Carmen and Shila Ommi) are hardworking first-generation fire immigrants who set up a store in the city’s Fire Town district. They have a smart, fiery-tempered teen daughter Ember (Leah Lewis), whom they hope will take over the business when they are gone.

But left alone to mind the shop one day, Ember’s explosively combustible temper cracks the pipes, which have been amateurishly installed by her dad, and this brings a certain watery young man through the cracks. This is Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie), a government building inspector who really ought to penalise the Lumen family. But he’s a goofy, soppy romantic whose watery identity is represented chiefly by his tear ducts. There’s a funny scene showing his family playing what they call “the crying game” (nothing to do with Neil Jordan’s film of that name ), in which they challenge each other to listen to a poignant story without bursting into tears.

Wade falls in love with Ember, whose incendiary talent for turning sand into glass might yet prove to be the making of them both. To find happiness, Wade has to prove himself to Ember and also to her suspicious parents.

It’s a bit silly, a bit surreal, a bit simplistic, and lands itself with the problem of how to show Ember being sad (which she sometimes is) and Wade being passionate (which he also sometimes is). But this film is surely pitched at much younger kids than a comparable Pixar film such as Inside Out , in which the separate moods inside us all were represented by different characters.

The question of whether Pixar’s golden age is irrevocably behind us is now well-established and perhaps also misleading. In fact, Pixar has given us some outstanding films recently in Soul and Coco , and I am admittedly in a minority in thinking the Toy Story spin-off Lightyear is much better than it’s given credit for. But undoubtedly Elemental is another step away from the sophisticated brilliance of this studio’s glory days.

Perhaps these multicoloured abstracts make the films sell better in international territories, but there is a worrying hint of PixarGPT about all this. Elemental seems to have been formulated with slightly chilling accuracy and the look of the movie is less interesting than it could have been. But having said that, a certain sweet, unworldly idealism in Elemental survives, the keynote of optimism – and this is the flame that Pixar has to keep alive.

• Animation in film
• Walt Disney Company
• Romance films
• Family films

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'Elemental' movie review: Fire and water mix but nothing else does in Disney Pixar's first rom-com

“Elemental” attempts to be Pixar ’s first romantic comedy and also the animation powerhouse's first immigrant story. Just pick one next time guys.

Directed by Peter Sohn ( “The Good Dinosaur” ), the new fantasy (★★½ out of four; rated PG; in theaters Friday) combines heady metaphors about racism and prejudice with more lighthearted clichés for a narrative about two very different youngsters who find common ground while getting to know each other. The storytelling suffers from the weight of that ambition, though “Elemental” at least pulls off fun world-building a la “Zootopia” with a city where the residents – of fire, water, earth and air persuasions – reflect four different cultural groups and ethnicities and don’t always get along.

The boroughs of vibrant Elemental City stand in for New York City, and there’s even an Ellis Island-type port welcoming waves of newcomers to the metropolis. The parents of fiery young woman Ember Lumen (voiced by Leah Lewis) were forced from their homeland and landed in Element City before she was born, but quickly found themselves outsiders. They ultimately build a home and business in a neighborhood that becomes Firetown. 

Years later, The Fireplace is a popular mom-and-pop convenience store run by Ember’s father Bernie (Ronnie del Carmen) and matchmaking mother Cinder (Shila Ommi). They’re not fans of other elements, nor is Ember, who’s in line to take over the store from her aging dad if she can just rein in her hot temper. A flare-up one day in the basement results in burst pipes and a “meet cute”: Amid the puddles is water dude Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie), a sensitive and sappy city inspector who got sucked out of another job but now needs to write up (and possibly shut down) the store.

Instead of a feud, the situation sparks an unlikely relationship between Ember and Wade, who bond as they investigate the source of all the water that shouldn’t be coming into Firetown. They grow closer, though Ember’s parents don’t approve of her new water man (Wade’s family is actually pretty cool with the potential coupling), and Ember also begins to question other parts of her life and future.

Pixar's greatest hits: The definitive ranking of the animation giant's movies

“Elemental” weaves themes of inequality, xenophobia and microaggressions into the plot: For example, much of Element City is not “built” with the fire people in mind – their culture seems to be based around Asian and Middle Eastern influences. (While viewers primarily get to know water and fire people, the earth and air folks are mainly ignored, aside from Ember's plant kid pal and Wade’s cloudy boss.)

The points are made but not exactly subtle. And they don't gel particularly well tonally with the familiar rom-com bits, from a hot air balloon ride sequence to a scene where Wade has to eat authentic fire food courtesy of Ember’s annoyed father. But even with the nonstop puns and on-the-nose aspects, there’s a winning sweetness to “Elemental” – Sohn’s underrated “Good Dinosaur” also had some good vibes in that respect. Sure, it’s a little corny when Ember's and Wade’s chemistry changes as they fall for each other, yet it still works.

'You feel it all deeply': Pixar's first rom-com 'Elemental' talks frankly about racism

Getting audiences to fall for recent Pixar movies has been a bigger struggle. Three previous non-sequels – “Soul,” “Luca” and “Turning Red” – hark back to the refreshing fare of yesteryear, though they premiered directly to Disney+. Meanwhile theatrical releases like 2022's "Lightyear" have been lackluster, with Pixar's last real hit being 2019’s “Toy Story 4.” (Old-school fans will adore the “Up” short “Carl’s Date,” which plays in front of “Elemental” and is one of Ed Asner’s final roles.)

Fire and water do mix in “Elemental,” although creating something successful and original isn’t as elementary for Pixar as it used to be.

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Pixar's new movie Elemental gets mixed first reviews

It's scored 57% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Elemental depicts a world where beings are made out of the four elements — fire, water, earth, and air. These beings live together in a massive city and the film follows a fire being, Ember, and a water being, Wade, who meet and, if you'll pardon the pun, sparks fly.

However, reviews have been mixed. At the time of writing (Sunday, May 28), the movie has a score of just 57% on Rotten Tomatoes . Here's a rundown of some of the first reviews:

Related: Inside Out 2 confirmed by Pixar

Evening Standard

"For all Elemental ’s many charms, this nonsensical film simply doesn’t cut the mustard."

"A flawed but big-hearted tale of forbidden love."

The Daily Telegraph

"While unlikely to feature on many people’s favourite Pixar lists, Elemental brings with it the satisfying creak of a ship being righted."

The Hollywood Reporter

"The elements all fit perfectly into place — so much so that the creative flames are doused, and we’re left without much of an impression."

"I reckon there are more ideas per second of screentime in Elemental than any other Pixar movie to date. So why does this imagination-teasing opposites-attract rom-com feel like a misfire?"

"As conflicted as they come: a heavy-handed, mixed-bag immigrant metaphor punctuated by a genuinely moving romance. It gets frequently lost down the rabbit hole of its own conceptual details but yields occasionally stunning images and thoughtful aesthetics."

Related: Dark Toy Story theory will wreck your childhood

The film, which has had its UK release date pushed back by a month, features Leah Lewis as Ember and Jurassic World: Dominion 's Mamoudou Athie as Wade, while Schitt's Creek star Catherine O'Hara also features .

Pixar recently announced two surprise movies: a sequel to Inside Out and Toy Story 5 . Pixar boss Pete Docter assured fans that Toy Story 5 would be "surprising." The studio will hope that both of these projects will be more roundly welcomed and well-received than Elemental has been.

Elemental will be released in UK cinemas June 16, 2023.

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Reporter, Digital Spy

Jacob is a freelance writer who specialises in narrative TV and film. 

He graduated from the University of Roehampton with an MA in Journalism and has written for several publications since, including Gold Derby , Insider , and Screen Daily . 

Jacob has covered major events in the world of film and TV, including numerous BAFTA ceremonies and the Cannes Film Festival, while he's also been an awards expert for several publications, including Korea's Arirang . His particular areas of interest include Star Wars , the MCU, the Oscars, and Hugh Grant.

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Screen Rant

Elemental review: vibrant animation & interesting ideas clash with weak story.

In reality, Elemental is bursting with clever ideas and timely social commentary, but ultimately passes over both for a more conventional tale.

There are few brands as well-respected in Hollywood as Pixar, though the iconic animation studio has faced an awkward period ever since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. With its best 2020s offerings going straight to Disney+ ( Soul , Turning Red ) and its grand return to theaters largely considered a disappointment ( Lightyear ) , many have turned to Pixar's latest release, Elemental , with some high expectations. On paper, the colorful and impressively animated film appears to be a return to form for the studio. In reality, Elemental is bursting with clever ideas and timely social commentary, but ultimately passes over both for a more conventional tale.

In the vividly-drawn Element City, the four elements live together in not-quite harmony. Water, air, and earth folk mingle freely on the streets, at sporting matches, and on public transit while, in their own neighborhood removed from the rest of the city, the fire people have formed their own tight-knit community. That is where Ember (Leah Lewis) resides with her parents, who kick off Elemental when they emigrate from their volcanic homeland to Element City. Ember's father, Bernie (Ronnie del Carmen), runs a convenience store and has big dreams of someday letting his daughter take over. Bernie has also raised Ember to wholeheartedly believe that elements do not mix, which only leads to deeper issues when a pipe bursts at the store and literally drags Wade (Mamoudou Athie), a sensitive water element, into Ember's life.

The burst pipe is tied to a bigger (and somewhat convoluted) issue within Element City, a mysterious leak that has begun sending water into the not-water-friendly Fire Town. Desperate to save the store, Ember reluctantly teams up with Wade to track down the source of the leak. This partnership brings the two clashing elements closer together, fueling a relationship that eventually becomes the bulk of Elemental 's plot . Directed by Pixar mainstay Peter Sohn ( The Good Dinosaur ), Elemental is a movie full of compelling ideas, seen in the inventive ways Element City is brought to life and the urgent parallels between real life prejudice and the fictional version that springs up between the elements. Fire folk are heavily ostracized within the city, and this is shown most poignantly through various flashbacks for Bernie and Ember.

However, despite the way Elemental appears to set itself up to be an allegory for racism in our world, the movie never confronts the separation of the elements in a direct way. Instead, Ember and Wade's burgeoning romance takes center stage. Elemental does a good job at exploring how a relationship between people from very different walks of life can be complicated and painful, and Ember and Wade are such well-rounded characters that it can be easy to root for them. At the same time, though, the story is a missed opportunity. Elemental introduces such a fascinating world, but it never gets the development it deserves. This leaves the movie with an uneven plot that loses some steam around the middle.

Perhaps the strongest part of Elemental is the bond between Ember and Bernie. A desperation to make her father proud propels Ember forward, while Bernie is driven by giving Ember the best life possible. A moment between the two at the very end of Elemental holds more emotion than the rest of the film and makes the journey, as shaky as it is, worth it. Even while the story falters, the movie is visually incredible. Each element is represented with its own design, with the fire people perhaps the most strikingly rendered. In addition to the stunning visuals, Elemental is further aided by a strong voice cast. Lewis perfectly captures Ember's fiery nature, while Athie draws both laughs and compassion as the weepy and earnestly sweet Wade. Comedy vets Wendi McLendon-Covey and Catherine O'Hara get in strong supporting roles, and del Carmen brings a sturdy warmth to Bernie.

Elemental might've been viewed by some as the movie to restore Pixar's might on the big screen, but it unfortunately falls a bit short of the greatness the studio is known for. There is still plenty to enjoy here, and audiences of all ages will no doubt be charmed by the vibrant world the movie brings to life. However, with a story that misses the mark, Elemental is left swimming in the shallow end of Pixar's filmography.

Elemental releases in theaters Friday, June 16. It is 103 minutes long and rated PG for some peril, thematic elements, and brief language.

Key Release Date

Pixar's Elemental Becomes Lowest-Rated Original Movie In Studio History on Rotten Tomatoes

Pixar 's Elemental just broke a studio record on Rotten Tomatoes .

Set to release on June 16 and directed by The Good Dinosaur 's Peter Sohn, Elemental follows the fiery Ember and fluid Wade, two opposite elements who fall in love in Element City.

Ahead of its theatrical debut, Disney and Pixar screened Elemental at the Cannes Film Festival, resulting in mixed early reviews and a record-breaking rating just like Lucasfilm's Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny . 

Elemental Makes Pixar History on Rotten Tomatoes

In the wake of Elemental 's debut at Cannes, Pixar's twenty-seventh film currently has a 57% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes .

This is the lowest score for a Pixar film that's not a sequel or from an established franchise to date.

While critics noted Elemental 's creativity, heart, and stunning visuals, all of which are Pixar trademarks, they also described the film as "heavy-handed" and a "misfire."

Even the 'fresh' reviews suggested the film wasn't top-caliber Pixar. 

For comparison, the following is a list of Pixar's lowest-rated films according to Rotten Tomatoes:

• A Bug's Life : 92%
• Onward : 88%
• Monsters University : 80%
• Brave : 79%
• The Good Dinosaur : 75%
• Lightyear : 74%
• Cars 3 : 68%
• Cars 2 : 40%

It's important to note that Elemental 's current rating is the result of only seven reviews and is expected to fluctuate in the coming weeks.

Is Elemental Too Elementary For Pixar Fans?

Yes, it's true that Elemental 's current rating is the result of only a handful of reviews; and yes, Rotten Tomatoes has long been controversial means of evaluating a film. 

However, this number is still worth paying attention to as it's a Pixar first, as well as the film's first critical impression. 

While audiences will gain a clearer picture of Elemental 's critic response in the near future, these first reviews suggest the film lives up to Pixar's standard of clever visuals but fails to deliver that originality within the story itself.

Coming out of Cannes, it will be interesting to see how Disney and Pixar choose to market the film and how general audiences will respond upon its theatrical debut.

Elemental arrives in theaters on June 16.

LATEST NEWS

Every Jake Gyllenhaal Movie with 90% or More on Rotten Tomatoes

Jake Gyllenhaal is a respected actor who’s been consistently working in the acting industry since the early nineties. Some young actors get their start on small films that become a blip in their overall acting portfolio.

By contrast, Gyllenhaal’s acting debut in the Western comedy City Slickers was a surprise hit and though he had a small role, it helped propel his career. Since then, he has performed across several genres, from science fiction to drama to romance. Many of his films have loyal followings and are iconic in the impact they’ve had both in the film industry and beyond.

It may come as a shock that many of Gyllenhaal’s most recognizable movies are not his highest-rated on Rotten Tomatoes. The review aggregator can be quite harsh when scoring a film’s “freshness.”

Brokeback Mountain , arguably Gyllenhaal’s best work, has an 88% score. Donnie Darko , another beloved Gyllenhaal film, 87%. His most recent film, a remake of the '80s classic, Road House , only sports a 59% critics' score. In fact, only a handful of the actor’s filmography has a 90% score or higher on Rotten Tomatoes. Check out his films that managed to receive a high rating. Some of the entries may surprise you.

Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) - 91%

Spider-man: far from home.

Release Date June 28, 2019

Director Jon Watts

Cast Jake Gyllenhaal, Marisa Tomei, Zendaya Coleman, Samuel L. Jackson, Jon Favreau, Tom Holland

Rating PG-13

Main Genre Superhero

Runtime 130

Spider-Man: Far From Home is the second film in the Tom Holland-era Spider-Man movies. This time, our web-shooting hero Peter Parker is gearing up for a two-week trip to Europe with his school. While in Venice, his classmates are attacked by the Water Elemental. Peter is asked to join the fight to destroy the remaining Elemental power, Fire, but he declines. But he won’t be let off the hook that easily.

His classmates are sent to Prague, Czech Republic, where Peter will have no choice but to encounter Fire. Gyllenhaal portrays Quentin Beck, or Mysterio, one of the men hoping Peter will help destroy the Elementals.

A Nice Addition to the MCU

When people think of the current Spider-Man movies, obviously Tom Holland and Zendaya are front of mind. They are the faces of the film and huge box office draws. Yet, the supporting cast’s involvement should not be overlooked. By the time this sequel premiered, many fans had grown fond of Peter Parker and M.J., so adding on new characters is always a risk.

Will fans appreciate them? Or will they be viewed as taking away screentime from our protagonists? The answer will differ based on each character, but Mysterio was certainly a bonus to the film. He’s powerful and cunning and adds a lot of fun to this successful franchise. Stream on Disney+.

Zodiac (2007) - 90%

Release Date March 2, 2007

Director David Fincher

Cast Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., John Carroll Lynch, Brian Cox, Anthony Edwards

Main Genre Crime

Runtime 157

True crime fans have likely heard of the Zodiac Killer, a serial killer who struck fear in those living in or around the San Francisco Bay Area during the ‘60s and ‘70s. Zodiac shows a month after a couple was gunned down, a local newspaper receives a letter taking responsibility for the incident.

The writer refers to himself as “Zodiac” and leaves the first of a string of coded messages. If that’s not disturbing enough, he vows to kill a dozen people if the code isn’t cracked. Robert Graysmith, a political cartoonist, believes Zodiac is lying about his identity being in the message. Robert is brushed aside by many, which makes him delve deeper into this frustrating case.

A Non-Sensational True Crime Film

A common criticism of media about serial killers is the glamorization of the criminal. However, because the Zodiac has yet to be identified, it made sense that other individuals close to the case would be centered. Gyllenhaal took on the role of Robert, Mark Ruffalo played an inspector who worked the case, and Robert Downey Jr. was crime reporter Paul Avery.

Despite this film boasting such a large cast, things never get muddied or difficult to follow. This is another film that just reached 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, though it seems low compared to other true crime films. It’s apparent that so much research went into this two-and-a-half-hour film, and even earned the number 12 spot on the BBC’s list of the greatest films of the 21st Century .

Related: Jake Gyllenhaal: The Alfred Hitchcock of Acting

October Sky (1999) - 91%

October sky.

Release Date February 19, 1999

Director Joe Johnston

Cast William Lee Scott, Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Laura Dern, Chris Owen

Main Genre Biography

Runtime 108 Minutes

October Sky is one of Gyllenhaal’s earliest films and serves as a preview for the great actor he’d blossom into. It’s a drama based on a memoir about a young man named Homer Hickam. Most men in the aptly named Coalwood, Virginia, work as coal miners. Homer’s dad himself is the mine superintendent and expects his son to follow his path.

However, Homer wants out of the monotonous life of Coalwood. When he watches the first artificial satellite launched by the Soviet Union take flight, he is inspired. Against his father and the town’s wishes, Homer sets out on a journey that will eventually lead him to NASA.

What Makes it Great?

In biographical dramas, many of those tuning into these films already know the outcome. Here, viewers may be aware that Homer came from a humble background and eventually became a NASA engineer. The key to the success of these films is diving into the why and how, both of which October Sky answers emotionally and inspirationally.

Gyllenhaal played Homer, adopted the thick country accent, and tapped into the optimism, intelligence, and resilience the real-life man had to display in his life. The supporting cast also helped buoy this film’s Rotten Tomatoes score to 91%, specifically Laura Dern as Homer’s science teacher. All in all, whether a science buff or not, you’ll end up connecting with this heartfelt underdog story. Rent on Apple TV.

Source Code (2011) - 92%

Source code.

Release Date April 1, 2011

Director Duncan Jones

Cast Brent Skagford, Michael Arden, Jake Gyllenhaal, Russell Peters, Vera Farmiga, Michelle Monaghan, Jeffrey Wright, Cas Anvar

Main Genre Mystery

Runtime 93 Minutes

Many people would jump at the chance to relive a moment from the past. That is, unless they find themselves in the situation of Colter Stevens in Source Code . In this science fiction movie, Colter, a U.S. Army pilot Captain is unsettled when he wakes up in another man’s body on a train heading for Chicago.

The last thing he remembered was flying around Afghanistan. As he’s getting his bearings, another train passes by, exploding, and killing everyone. Later, he receives communication from the Air Force Captain that he will be sent back in time again to gather intel on where the bomb was planted and, more importantly, who the guilty party is.

Repetition Without Boring Audiences

This is one of the most gory Groundhog Day-like scenarios ever. Whenever Stevens is brought back to the train, he gathers a new piece of the puzzle, but he’s also bombarded with even more questions. Viewers will be just as involved in outsmarting this whodunit before time runs out.

Each time he’s given eight minutes to figure it out, and that ticking clock element works wonderfully in this sort of film. It may be too late for these passengers, but the Army believes solving this one can prevent future attacks. The premise of Source Code isn’t the wildest or most inventive, but that doesn’t make it any less entertaining. Stream on Max.

Related: Here Are 7 Movies About Being Stuck in the Same Day, Ranked

Wildlife (2018) - 94%

Release Date January 1, 2019

Director Paul Dano

Cast Darryl Cox, Tom Huston Orr, Travis W Bruyer, Jake Gyllenhaal, Carey Mulligan, Zoe Colletti, Bill Camp, Ed Oxenbould

Main Genre Drama

Runtime 105 Minutes

Wildlife is a great watch for Gyllenhaal fans, as he not only starred in the movie, but also co-produced it. This drama is based on a novel published in 1990. Jerry Brinson (Gyllenhaal) has moved to Great Falls, Montana with his wife Jeanette and their son Joe. A move is stressful enough, so when Jerry is fired from his job, it adds even more pressure to their situation.

The firing is a huge blow to his ego, so even when given the chance to return to his old job, he turns the offer down. Jeanette and Joe must pivot their lives, taking jobs and the latter dropping out of extracurricular activities. Jeanette hopes Jerry will snap out of his funk and get a job to help support the family. Instead, he decides to help firefighters battle a forest fire.

A Fantastic Family Drama

Filmmaker Paul Dano co-wrote, co-produced, and directed (as a debut) this film, which deserves some praise. Each member of the Brinson family was given so much time to develop them as people, allowing viewers to get wholly attached. Gyllenhaal’s character was frustrating at times, with his actions seeming selfish. But there was so much going on beneath the surface, a complexity highlighted through Gyllenhaal’s performance.

It flew relatively under the radar, especially compared to some of Carey Mulligan (who played Jeanette) and Gyllenhaal’s other projects, yet one watch makes it evident why the Rotten Tomatoes score is so high. Rent on Apple TV.

Stronger (2017) - 90%

Release Date

Runtime 119 Minutes

Stronger is an emotional biographical drama about a victim of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Jeff Bauman lives an unassuming life. He works at Costco, lives with his mother, and lacks direction in his life. Jeff learns that his ex-girlfriend is running the Boston Marathon and decides to wait at the finish line to celebrate her achievement.

To his surprise, on race day, a bomb explodes where he’s standing. Although he made it out of this traumatic ordeal with his life intact, the same cannot be said of his body. Suddenly, Jeff must navigate life as a double amputee.

A Strong & Forgotten Film

The sense of foreboding is heavy, as viewers all know what’s to come for Jeff and the hundreds of other victims. Stronger was released just four years after the actual incident, and perhaps that was too soon for people to relive such an event on screen. It flopped at the box office, not even reaching $10 million.

Despite this, those who saw the film agreed that everything from the performances to not sensationalizing such an event was handled well. Technically, this film is right on the cusp with a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but it may be the one that stays with viewers the longest. Stream on Netflix.

Related: 12 Underrated Jake Gyllenhaal Movies, Ranked

Nightcrawler (2014) - 95%

Nightcrawler.

Release Date October 23, 2014

Director Dan Gilroy

Cast Kent Shocknek, James Huang, Marco Rodrguez, Michael Papajohn, Jake Gyllenhaal, Bill Paxton

Runtime 117

Nightcrawler is a thriller surrounding a man named Lou. While many films center on a protagonist who is on the up and up, Lou leads a life full of petty crime. After completing a theft and narrowly getting away, Lou pulls over when he notices a car crash. Stringers, aka freelance journalists, are on the scene. He learns he can make money by capturing news and selling it to outlets and news stations. Given his already loose morals, this is a sure setup for disaster.

A Compelling and Creepy Anti-Hero

Nightcrawler is Gyllenhaal’s highest-rated film on Rotten Tomatoes that he’s starred in. Many films explore unethical reporters, but this film takes it one step further by exposing how the public participates in it. Outlets wouldn’t continue to do so if there wasn’t a demand for it, a fact that may make viewers uncomfortable. But the film is far from being a finger-wagging lesson for viewers. It lives up to the genre category, giving viewers plenty of nail-biting, heart-rate-spiking moments to dial into.