Pixar's Elemental Footage Reaction: A Charming Romantic Comedy Simmers In A Mesmerizing World

When director Pete Sohn (who inherited "The Good Dinosaur" from "Up" director Bob Peterson after creative differences overwhelmed the production) first pitched the concept for "Elemental" to Disney, it was based on the idea of whether or not fire and water could ever connect. Is that even possible? That turned into the film we're about to see this summer. 

"Elemental" focuses on Ember and the rest of the Lumen family as they make a life for themselves in Element City, a proxy of New York City where the metropolis has mostly been built around water people. As the film briefly explains, water was the first element to evolve into a civilization, followed by earth, air, and eventually fire, but the latter's destructive nature has resulted in many fire people feeling out of place and even unwanted. That's exactly what happens when Ember's parents arrived in Element City. With their fire language feeling a little overwhelming at the immigration entrance, they're given the names of Bernie and Cinder, and off they go to find a place to live. 

The Lumen family gets a familiar immigrant experience, with a little bit of xenophobia thrown in there. As they try to find a place to live, an earth person with dry leaves isn't keen to rent to them. Meanwhile, a water person merely frowns and closes the door in their face, clearly having an aversion to fire people. The parallels and thematic elements involving racism are not subtle, but that's exactly the point. Though the eventual romance between Ember and Wade takes the spotlight, there's a backdrop here focusing on the issues of human hegemony, being an immigrant family trying to get by, and overcoming what might feel like a natural predilection towards communities that, initially, may seem diametrically opposed to your own. 

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The Lumen family lays their roots in a seemingly abandoned, rundown building on the outskirts of Element City. Bernie repairs the building himself and opens a convenience store that caters to fire people. Slowly, a community builds around them, resulting in Firetown. What's great about this setting is that it could stand in for a myriad of ethnicities. The fire people are not meant to be representative of any singular race. In fact, none of the elemental societies are made to be direct proxies for specific ethnic backgrounds. Sure, an argument could be made for water people being the white majority since Element City is mostly catered to them, but that's probably why Mamoudou Athie was cast as Wade, to break down any of those assumptions. But there are hints of Middle Eastern, Polish, Greek, Jewish, Asian, and Irish culture built into these characters, and that's just in the footage that was shown to us. 

As Ember enters her adult years and her father Bernie is getting older, she begins to take over the store. But Ember hasn't yet learned how to control her fiery temper. Whenever customers become overwhelming, she gets white hot and essentially has a mini-meltdown that results in a literally explosive fit. On the day of the busy red dot sale, too many customers begin to push Ember to the edge, and she runs down to the basement for a private burst of anger. But when her rage results in a broken water pipe flooding the basement, she accidentally summons an emotional Wade, who just so happens to be a safety inspector who works for the city. Unfortunately, he's now witness to a variety of violations, and because he's dedicated to his job, he's regretful that he has to inform his boss of them, which may result in the store being closed. 

From here, Ember begins to spend a significant amount of time with Wade as she tries to figure out a way to stop the city from shutting down her family's store. Though initially frustrated with Wade, she begins to see a new side of water people, resulting in a simmering romance that lands somewhere among the likes of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," "Moonstruck," "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," "You've Got Mail," and more recently, "The Big Sick." Of course, that will likely be made all the more complicated by the fact that Ember's grandmother's dying wish was for her to marry another fire person. In fact, those were her final words just before her flame was extinguished, a detail that apparently comes from Pete Sohn's real life. 

One of the most incredible pieces of "Elemental" is Pixar's animation. With characters made of water, earth, air, and fire, this may be Pixar's most technically challenging movie yet. With Ember and Wade serving as our leads, we have two main characters whose body is always in motion, and not just in the traditional way. Ember's flames are constantly waving around, and the entire structure of her body is fire. Occasionally her movements will be so fast that parts of her body wisp in the wind. Her emotions are displayed not just by her face, but by the intensity with which her fire burns. Even Ember's pupils wave slightly like fire. Just watching Ember is captivating, and Wade is no different.

Water has notoriously been one of the most difficult elements to recreate in animation and visual effects, and even with today's technological advances, it's still not easy. Director Peter Sohn confirmed that everyone thought creating a character made of fire was going to be their most difficult challenge. But Wade turned out to be more difficult. It's not just the liquid nature of water that made his character creation difficult, but the fact that water is both reflective and refractive, as well as containing ripples and bubbles. So animators had to be specific about how realistic to make the water, not to mention making Wade look transparent without being able to see the interiors of his eyes and mouth. Wade's liquid body also allows for blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments of physical comedy, such as his head detaching from his body when quickly trying to maneuver away from Ember's angry advances in one scene. 

Together, the two show off their elemental skills in a cute scene that finds Ember and Wade walking through Element City's version of Central Park. When they come upon a collection of colored minerals and crystals near a lake, Ember's flame changes color when she comes into contact with them. She burns from green to pink to red, impressing Wade with her beauty. Wade can't help but show off his skills either, as he streaks across the lake, creating a huge splash of water that results in a misty rainbow appearing over the park. This is exactly the kind of stuff that will have you falling in love with Ember and Wade as if they were Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. 

That's just the animation utilized to bring the main characters to life, and there are infinitely more details just like this that make "Elemental" a dazzling animated experience based on the footage we've seen so far.