‘Elemental’ review round-up: Peter Sohn directs ‘one of Pixar’s best films’
On June 16, 2023, Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Studios released “Elemental,” which features the voices of Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Ronnie del Carmen, Shila Ommi, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Catherine O’Hara, Mason Wertheimer, Joe Pera, and Matt Yang King. Directed by Peter Sohn, the film centers on two elements (Ember and Wade) that are literally fire and water, a relationship that is frowned upon in society. The duo works to maintain their relationship despite the expectations of society.
At the 76th Cannes Film Festival, the film was screened for critics to mixed reviews, but those have trended upward upon national release resulting in a Rotten Tomatoes score of 76%. General audiences are more favorable, grading it at 92% fresh. Read our full review round-up below.
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Matt Neglia of Next Best Picture praises the film, stating, “The feature directorial debut of Peter Sohn, ‘The Good Dinosaur,’ was seen as a crushing low point for the studio, whose entire identity was built around the fact that they were considered some of the world’s greatest storytellers but on this particular film, they fell drastically short of the high bar they had set for themselves. Eight years later, Sohn finally gets his redemption for his latest film from Pixar,’“Elemental,’ which is an unequivocal triumph in nearly every area where ‘The Good Dinosaur’ failed. Mixing the elements of an immigrant story and a love story while drawing upon his own real-life experiences, Sohn and the rest of the team behind this charming film have not only delivered one of Pixar’s best films in recent memory but one of their best overall.”
Ben Croll of TheWrap says, “Though as return to form for Pixar itself – a rekindling of that fire that set hearts ablaze by wedding prodigious technique to (ahem) elementally simple metaphor – the film falls somewhat short of previous highs. By way of pure storytelling magic, the film also unfortunately lives up to its title.” Croll adds, “With story beats and character turns that strain well beyond familiarity, ‘Elemental’ matches formal adventure with storytelling timidity. Here is a new spin on the old formula, livened up by advances in technology and delivered with real artistry. The film is full of complex and volatile parts, all held together in the most elemental of containers.”
Peter Debruge of Variety writes, “No one can accuse director Peter Sohn (‘The Good Dinosaur’) or his team of under-thinking the ultra-creative studio’s latest high-concept feature, which takes the four elements as identified by various ancient cultures — Fire, Water, Earth and Air — and reimagines them as uneasy neighbors in a crowded modern metropolis. But fun as it can be to soak in the movie’s cheeky sense of detail (from flame-retardant costumes to blink-and-you-miss-them background puns), the whole scenario seems forced: so much world-building to tell a story better suited to flesh-and-blood human characters.” Debruge adds, “Elemental” is so elaborate and calls for so much exposition that the briskly paced movie is still trying to shoehorn essential backstory into the film’s final reel. Sohn should have made the plot simpler, not faster. There’s poetry and soul here, but both are watered down by how much the movie seems to be multitasking. With Pixar, sincerity is elemental. The rest risks distracting from what really matters.”
Siddhant Adlakha of IndieWire notes, “Despite its confused and overstuffed worldbuilding, ‘Elemental’ has enough charming moments to get by, even if its meaning lies less in its ill-conceived immigrant saga, and more in the personal drama that lives a few layers beneath it. Adlakha adds, “’Elemental’ may be rife with lip-service to cultural specifics — so many that they end up a cultural hodgepodge — but its music is the one aesthetic choice that fully embodies the bi-cultural notions the film so desperately attempts to dramatize.”
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