Review of Elemental (2023) by Tinyinfinity6 — 22 Jun 2023

Very forgettable. The whole movie feels like it was made out of obligation to fulfill the yearly Pixar movie quota rather than an interest in exploring an idea or characters. So much of the runtime is dedicated to cut-away gags that are practically begging you to find them clever, but none hold any impact as they're about as complex as something you'd find in a newspaper comic strip. The water people do water stuff! The fire people do fire stuff! That's about all the commentary or depth the movie has about the concept to which it entirely dedicates itself.

I feel like I've seen 'Element City' dozens of times in animated movies, because it's just another city. Zootopia did it, Turning Red did it, Big Hero 6 did it, hell even Wreck-It Ralph 2 did it, and that is one of the worst animated movies of all-time. There's nothing that separates any of this film from the generic and tiresome tropes that inspired it. Pixar has become far too comfortable with mediocrity (or worse) while other studios push forward with new and exciting ideas. I hope they change, because Elio doesn't look any better.