Elemental: Burns brightly

Elemental (2023) • View trailer

Four stars (out of five). Rated PG, for no particular reason

Available via: Movie theaters

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 6.16.23

Pixar’s new fantasy is just as sneakily subversive as 2015’s Inside Out.

 

I continue to be impressed by the way the animation studio’s writers — in this case, Peter Sohn, John Hoberg, Kat Likkel and Brenda Hsueh — work so much real-world relevance into their wildly imaginative stories. On top of which, the strong note of “working hard to get along” is sorely needed these days.

 

While watery Wade looks on happily, fiery Ember does her best to handle his mother
Brook's effusive greeting.

Ember Lumen (voiced by Leah Lewis) is a second-generation transplant to the metropolis of Element City, a realm of Fire-, Water-, Air- and Earth-residents. Her parents — Bernie (Ronnie Del Carmen) and Cinder (Shila Ommi) — left their native Fireland decades ago, in order to grant their daughter a better life. They arrived with little more than a blue flame representing their heritage, and worked hard to turn their new shop, Fireplace, into a popular success.

Bernie is nearing retirement age, and has long promised that Ember will inherit the family business. Unfortunately, the impatient and (ahem) hot-headed young woman has an explosive temper that isn’t conducive to customer interactions.

 

Some structural mishaps bring their shop to the attention of city inspector Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie), a Water guy who takes his job seriously. That said, such responsibilities frequently conflict with his compassionate nature; issuing tickets often makes him burst into tears.

 

(“He’s the type of character that’ll cry at a diaper commercial,” notes director Peter Sohn.)

 

Circumstances — and a citywide mystery — force Ember and Wade together, despite the danger that they pose to each other. And while their slowly developing relationship mirrors countless romantic comedies that begin with an oil-and-vinegar couple, the writers here have far more on their minds.

 

Wade is as laid back and gentle as Ember is uptight and passionate. But Wade also is a perceptive listener: a “mirror character” who allows Ember to see herself better. This is crucial, because she has long suppressed a talented artistic side. Truth be told, she doesn’t really want to take over the family business … but she also doesn’t want to disrespect her old-school parents.

 

What’s a loving daughter to do?

 

Yep, we once again have the push/pull that finds a young adult caught between personal ambition — a desire to blaze one’s own trail — and parental expectations. This is handled poignantly, and with gentle good humor; the same is true of the parallel narrative that finds Ember and Wade struggling to look beyond their (blatantly obvious) surface differences, to forge a bond.