Cannes 2023: Elemental Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Cannes International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

In their heyday, Pixar was an unbeatable animation studio producing some of the most impressive films the art-form has ever seen. Following a legendary run with virtually no missteps, the studio began to focus more on creating sequels and merchandising at the beginning of the 2010s. While they’ve re-shifted their focus towards nurturing original ideas, they haven’t had nearly as much success in terms of quality. Fortunately, Peter Sohn’s sophomore effort for Pixar joins the ranks of Luca in showcasing that the studio remains more than capable of producing classics. Their latest film, Elemental, takes place in a world where fire, water, air and earth exist as sentient beings.

Elemental follows their daughter Ember Lumen (Lewis), a fire element preparing to take over her family’s shop in fire town. From a young age, she was taught by her parents to stay within the confines of fire town and avoid any interaction with water elements. However, when a freak accident causes a flood in the shop, a kindhearted and extremely sensitive water element named Wade (Athie) gets washed up through the pipes. From there, what seemed like an initially a prickly interaction quickly turned into a deep romantic connection.

Elemental personifies the idea that fire and water cancel each other out, exploring it in the context of a classic forbidden love story. It’s hard to believe that after almost thirty years of producing feature films, the film marks Pixar’s first foray into the romance genre. The end result is a visually stunning and emotionally satisfying celebration of love through a multicultural lens. The film also delivers a strikingly authentic portrait of the immigrant experience and family dynamics and their influence on relationships.

As with all recent Pixar films, Elemental is visually stunning. While the character designs pop off the screen, the film world is rich, colorful and unique in design. Meanwhile, the film is also a rare example of a studio funded animated taking a chance on a mostly unknown voice cast, with the exception of comedy legends Catherine O’Hara and Joe Pera. The standout was Lewis who brings a certain charisma and flair to Ember that makes her such a compelling character to watch.

In the end, Elemental exudes charm and is one of the sweetest films Pixar has released within the past decade. While its premise may not be the most original and its world may draw comparisons to such films as Zootopia, the strength of its characters and the depth that Sohn and the writing bring help it standout within the animation genre as a whole. It perfectly captures the magic of first love in a way that few films in recent memory have.

still courtesy of Disney/Pixar

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Tristan French