Elemental

The beautiful visual style and overall sophistication of the City of Elements makes every shot a unique experience. Combined with Thomas Newman's unfailingly beautiful score, it is about the most beautiful experience to whizz through the cinema. The story is a little weaker, as it doesn't bring anything particularly new although it does a great job of making the romance work. Things sparkle between Ember Lumen and Wade Ripple despite the bare-bones dating line. The action is dynamic, makes clever use of the setting, and the humour mostly works. I was bombarded for most of the film with my daughter's nosy questions, like where is daddy, including what it means to die, so I'll probably watch it alone again. (19.08.2023)

In its mission and message, Elemental is reminiscent of the phenomenal Inside Out and Zootropolis, and even though it is a fairly straightforward story without any wow-effects (like Coco), it was nice to watch in the cinema thanks to the quality animation. As I already mentioned, the story is really simple (I missed some backstory to the water seepage), but nicely presented, without unnecessary infantile scenes and with more than one funny reference to the elements. Aside from the relationship angle, there is also the ever-present issues of immigrants and prejudice against "difference". A weaker four stars! (20.06.2023)

This film was a surprises screening during the closing ceremony after the awards were presented. Honestly, I suffered for the first thirty minutes and I wanted to leave, but I thought I can't leave my last screening in Cannes. Eventually there was a breaking point and I started to enjoy the film quite a bit, even getting a little emotional towards the end. I haven't seen Onward, Soul, and Turning Red, so I can't compare it to the newer or more recent Pixar efforts. But for God's sake, if I take Monsters Inc. (for me the best), Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Brave, Inside Out, Coco, these are films are of a significantly higher level, and Elemental is, I’m sorry to say, terribly boring and not up to Pixar standards, although there are scenes that definitely made me laugh and moved me, though it pushed too hard on the latter... (Luca is also pretty much borderline, by the way). Kids will probably like it, it's cheerful and colourful, but also full of contemporary popular clichés. [Festival de Cannes 2023] (31.05.2023)

Pixar, once the kings of animated films, have fallen quite a bit behind the competition, and Elementary isn't the next big hit either. It's better than Inside Out and Luca for me, but it's nowhere near the quality of Puss in Boots, The Mitchells vs. the Machines or Raya and the Last Dragon. The problem is that they've worked with a fairly original idea in an attractive world in a fairly unengaging form. I liked the premise with the different elements, it's just that they focus exclusively on water and fire (ignoring the other elements most of the time), and also focus on two specific characters and the love story between them, instead of exploring the world and its potential. So we are deprived of both action and funny interludes, as the humour here is punishingly little for a fairy tale. The love story itself is nicely presented and it's heartwarming in places, but I can't imagine the kids having much fun with it. I wasn't bored, but it could have been much better, 6/10. (21.08.2023)