I went into this movie with low expectations and a surly attitude (I had to bail on another movie because the theater’s projection was unwatchable… again). I figured it would be the latest ho-hum Pixar film randomly picked to return to theaters when it really should have gone to Disney+. That it’d be warmed-over Zootopia and Inside Out… been there, done that, do we need it again?
But I was wrong and had brought too much baggage into a movie that didn’t deserve it. Yes, the film immediately rubbed me the wrong way with its blatant and simplistic analogy soup… and how the characters weren’t actually elements on the Periodic Table. But it slowly broke me down until I realized I was enjoying it… and then I realized *gasp* I was moved by it. Those Pixar fiends had gotten to my emotions again!
The film takes place in Element City… a place made up of fire, water, cloud, and earth people. The fire people don’t mix well with the rest and we follow the daughter of a recent immigrant. She meets a water person and they naturally don’t get along… until, of course, they do. Because this might actually be a good movie, but it ain’t shaking the walls of originality.
It’s definitely a thinly-veiled analogy for immigration and racism. But every movie is someone’s first movie and it’s perfectly ok to sell kids an analogy if it makes them better human beings. For the rest of us? It’s one of those family films that anyone can enjoy because it’s not written for babies. You’ve seen it before? See it again.
The movie is all around solid and looks as good as you would expect from Pixar. I liked that the voice cast wasn’t a bunch of name-brand stunt-casting. Just the right actors for the right parts at the right time. They embodied their characters and made them work.
So, yeah, I liked this film despite my surly mood. It warmed on me, as you might expect from those wacky fire people. It’s not their best but it’s back to the familiar, solid, thoughtful, and smart (if not particularly original) Pixar some of us have been missing.
Score: 86