It is a disappointing experience to discover that a studio once known for its impeccable, flawless run of films has started to produce work that is far beneath their usual standards – however, when it comes to Pixar, this has been something that has been happening for the better part of a decade. Not every film produced by the company is disappointing – there are still some incredible peaks that stand as amongst their best work – and none of them are actively bad in any way, but rather the definition of middling, overproduced fare that does very little in terms of originality, having lost their artisanal flavour on which they used to depend. Their most recent offering is Elemental, which has shades of brilliance, but loses them over the course of the story, with the bold concept not being serviced well by the development of a narrative that didn’t quite know how to adapt a charming one-sentence premise into a fully-dimensional, meaningful film. It’s doubly disappointing when we consider that this is directed by Peter Sohn, whose previous directorial effort for the company was the deeply underrated The Good Dinosaur, one of the most heartfelt films produced by Pixar, but yet is often considered one of their only true failures, an inexplicable fate for a delightful and pleasant film that showed the virtue of simplicity and elegance when it comes to conceiving of narratives. It is not without its merits, and there are many moments where it feels extremely compelling, but from a holistic perspective, Elemental is a slight disappointment, a film with good ideas, excellent craftsmanship and an objectively strong concept, but lacking the abundance of genuine heart that we’d expect from the studio, who has unfortunately once again prioritized the spectacle of this film over the necessary depth – although in comparison to some of their own high-concept stories, Elemental does have much more depth, just not enough to entirely live up to its potential, barely being as soon as the sum of its parts.

Their films haven’t always been driven by distinct socio-cultural messages, but there is usually a deeper meaning behind all of Pixar’s work, even if it is only found in the subtle details. These are animated films that strive to have depth and nuance, which is most admirable when it is infused in the smaller moments. However, the studio has started to make the messages of their films far more obvious, to the point where the entire first act of their stories are dedicated to carefully and thoroughly explaining exactly what the deeper meaning is to this particular work, usually through overt exposition, which can make the stories clunky and overlong. Elemental is not an exception, and we learn immediately that this is an allegory for the immigrant experience, particularly the challenges that come with handling the inherent prejudice one faces in such a scenario. This film being about such a topic is not the problem – it’s an important subject, and one that should always be part of the conversation, especially towards media targeted at younger audiences. Instead, it is the fact that it is all so extremely obvious that feels most disappointing, since there were many other ways to get this message across without directly stating it without any nuance or sense of subtlety. Using the premise of a city occupied by the four elements, which supposedly live in harmony (albeit in their own separate sectors of the metropolis) as an allegory for racism and prejudice against those from different groups is not a bad idea at all, and it’s in the smaller moments that we find Elemental faltering. It makes us wonder whether allegory is effective when it is this obvious, because this film toggles the narrow boundary between an allegorical statement and an afterschool special, the latter starting to become a regular theme in Pixar’s output, almost as if they are apprehensive to give the audience the benefit of the doubt, in case we might miss the deeper meaning – but assuming that we aren’t smart enough to pick up on these aspects is nearly as bad as avoiding them altogether, which is where the film begins to fall apart.

To their credit, Pixar has normally shown a lot of strength when it comes to characterization, and it is not uncommon to find their work being deeply reflective of a range of very complex themes as filtered through the perspective of the characters that populate the stories. Elemental does have several very interesting characters, and strong performances that accompany them. However, they are perhaps slightly too small-scale, since none of the performances really register all that much, and tend to be quite straightforward, not having many distinctive qualities, while still being quite pleasant and meaningful in their own way. Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie are not massively well-known actors, but they are dedicated enough to playing the leads of this story, bringing a youthful honesty to these roles that needed charm more than anything else to keep them afloat, which is mostly the case with both performances, even if neither is all that impressive or revolutionary – the film also earns additional credibility by casting two people of colour in these roles, which adds to the conversations around race and ethnicity. It’s a good introduction to these actors, who are very committed to the material. The supporting cast is where we start to see some more compelling work being done. In particular, the role of Ember’s father is surprisingly fantastic, considering he is voiced by Ronnie del Carmen, a non-professional actor who mostly worked as an animator for Pixar. As we’ve seen from the likes of Brad Bird in The Incredibles, the staff at Pixar are unexpectedly great when it comes to voicing these scene-stealing supporting characters. This character in particular has a lot of meaning, considering his storyline is by far the most authentic in this film, where the focus on the father-daughter relationship feels the most developed and meaningful, despite it not being the primary concept. Solid performances that are used to bring intriguing characters to life, the acting in Elemental is one of its only truly great qualities, which is at least something valuable we find in this film.

One of the fundamental problems with Elemental, which is quite possibly its most significant flaw, is that this has an objectively strong concept that is quite unique, but when it comes to delivering on the promises of the premise after the initial novelty has worn off, it is far less impactful. Comparison with earlier works is not always a good approach to criticism, since it only leads to the discussion circling around pointing out how earlier films were far more effective, which is petty and not particularly interesting. However, considering Pixar is a company that has defined the act of resting on one’s laurels to the point where their supposed originality in terms of premises are becoming trite and predictable – we have all joked about the fact that a Pixar pitch meeting is likely executed by pulling words out of a dictionary, and writing “if they had feelings” afterwards, and telling an entire story around this concept. The main premise here, where we see the humanizing of the elements, is original but quickly loses its quirks when we realize the worldbuilding isn’t particularly strong, the humour is predictable (and often goes for the low-hanging fruit) and simply not all that interesting or effective. The emotions are also quite overwrought, which has sadly become par for the course with Pixar, who tend to rely too heavily on tearjerking moments, it sometimes borders on manipulative, especially when it seems clear that these films are following a very strict formula, which dictates all the narrative beats and moments where the emotions need to be at their most potent. There is far too much going on in Elemental, which is unfortunate considering this is a genuinely beautiful film on a visual level, with the design of the characters and their surroundings being incredible, which makes the inability of the narrative to possess the same creativity even more disappointing.

Perhaps it would be unfair to say that Pixar has gone downhill – the quality of their work is still good, and even when their stories don’t have the emotional payoff we would expect, there is still merit in how these films push for originality, which is a valuable commodity in a cinematic landscape where consistency and reliability is highly coveted, and anyone who goes against it is taking a calculated but worthwhile risk. There are good qualities about this film – it is by no means a failure or anything close to awful, but rather it has a strong concept that falls apart when there isn’t any value in the objective exploration of this world, and the film needs to focus on the story on its own, which is a challenging development that doesn’t quite work in the context of this story, which needed a lot more nuance and sensitivity to actually achieve greatness. By this point, being disappointed by a Pixar film feels natural – their streak ended a while ago, and now it’s only a matter of assessing whether their new work can cross that threshold of greatness once again (which it has done in films like Coco and Turning Red – notice how two of their best films in recent years have both been very simple films that hold a strong cultural relevance and know what they want to be?), or if they’ll just be the embodiment of a strong concept with lacklustre writing, heavyhanded emotions and the same kind of predictable story we always find in these works. It’s not a great film, and it sometimes comes across as slightly taut. However, Elemental does have its merits, and we can give it credit for taking a bold stance on a number of these important issues. The problem comes in the fact that this film doesn’t really put this goodwill to use, instead being just another middling affair that looks gorgeous, but can’t incite all that much passion in the viewer.