Pixar is the powerhouse behind many of the most culturally-significant children’s films of our lives:Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, Up,andInside Out, to name a few. The animation studio is known for telling stories with lots of heart and humor that can be equally enjoyed by both children and adults. With their attention to detail, impressive research skills, and innovative animation techniques, it was always a thrill to see what they would do next.
Over the last several years, some have noted a decline in the quality of Pixar movies. The 2015 releaseThe Good Dinosaurbombed at the box office and with audiences, and 2020’sOnwardgot more positive reviews, but still failed to pack a punch. It was up in the air which sideElementalwould fall on when it released last month.
Spoiler alert: the reaction was lukewarm. In its opening weekend,Elementalmade just shy of $30 million, short of the original $35-40 million predictions. The film’s animation was impressive and there were plenty of laugh-out-loud moments (butterflies and windshield wipers, anyone?), yet overall it left a lot to be desired. Here’s whyElementaldidn’t quite live up to its potential.
Elemental’s Watered-Down Plot
Elementalfollows Ember Lumen, voiced by Leah Lewis, though we are first introduced to her parents when they arrived in Elemental City. They face discrimination when arriving in the new city, but are eventually able to open their own shop and a community of other fire elements form a tight-knit neighborhood community. Ember is set to take over the shop when her father retires. The main problems are: 1) she doesn’t really want to run the shop; and 2) she has an anger problem that leads her to sticky situations with customers. Following a series of events, her temper leads her to Wade who puts her father’s shop on the city’s radar, and they risk getting shut down.
Elementalis a lot more romance-centric than some of Pixar’s better-known projects. Where this one falls flat, however, is that there isn’t anything new added to this plot conceit. A daughter stepping out of her parents' expectations and finding herself and love feel uninspired for a company known for its innovative choices. There are no surprises or moments where director Peter Sohn pivots from the beaten path. In a comment on the official trailer, a user stated (viaYouTube), “The movie looks absolutely stunning and I have little doubt it will visually be an incredible movie. But I feel like I’ve seen this plot already 10,000 times.” Thus, while the visuals are cool, ultimately the story leaves viewers feeling uninspired and asking, “Wait, that was it?”
Related:Elemental Review: A Movie That Seems Afraid Of Itself
Doused Flames & Chilled Hearts
As mentioned,this Pixar filmis heavier on romance than many of its other releases. With romances, of course, success relies on the chemistry between the two leads. Chemistry isn’t really there with Ember and Wade. They fall in love when the runtime tells them they should. Never mind the deus ex machina, hand-wavey moment where they hold hands and embrace and nothing happens even though the film built up how dangerous it would be.
Both are likable enough characters on their own. It’s nice to see a male character like Wade being categorized as the “sensitive” one, openly crying, and being super emotionally available. Though perhaps it’s his lack of a backbone (he is a water blob after all), his personality came across as flat, there to exist for Ember’s sake instead of being a fully-actualized character on his own. Wade went from literally running to get away from Ember to very quickly letting her tag along to a game he’s attending. Ember’s hotheadedness is a nice juxtaposition to Wade’s character. The two archetypes had the makings of aclassic opposites-attract love story. Yet the relationship felt rushed and the motivations murky.
Theatrical Releases — Are We Burnt Out?
The release ofOnwardwas heavily impacted by the pandemic, as it released in March 2020. So, perhaps it’s unfair to discuss that film’s box office performance when people were either afraid to go to theaters or couldn’t. However, it did mark a shift in how audiences watch content. In fact, it might be Disney, which owns Pixar, to blame for the lackluster ticket sales. With Disney+, people know they can wait a few months and watch the film from the comfort of their own homes and without paying more money outside the subscription fee, which is only increasing.
Avid theater-goers know the experience you have in those seats cannot compare to watching it on your laptop or phone at home. Still, when disposable income is a luxury and individuals can pay for one subscription for their entire family or friends to gain access to a robust catalog of entertainment rather than individual tickets for singular entities, the choice is clear.
Related:10 Animated Movies to Watch If You Loved Pixar’s Elemental
Marketing Misfire
Elementalhad little buzz going into its release in comparison to other films. The amount of marketing may be among the top contenders for why it didn’t make waves. But, more than that, perhaps the glimpses audiences did see of the film did not accurately portray the true heart of the movie. In aRedditthread titled, “I genuinely feel so bad for Peter Sohn,” one user stated, “TheElementalmarketing seems to be a big miss. It’s like they were trying to trick people into seeing an opposites-attract trope, and then switching it up with a lovely immigrant tale. I wish they just told us what it is, because that story is way more interesting to me.”
The stand-in forthe immigrant experienceand an interracial relationship is not highlighted in the official trailer or much of the major marketing. And that story is important and interesting and can 100% be entertaining. It’s just not the story people thought they were going to see. In making their marketing more general, Pixar’sElementalcame across as unimaginative. A well-known marketing adage goes, “If you try to market to everyone, you market to no one.”
