'Wow factor has been lost': Pixar’s animated film ‘Elemental’s 'dull-witted and basic' plot fails to charm critics
CANNES, FRANCE: Pixar's 'Elemental', which is all set to hit the theaters on June 16, 2023, debuted at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, May 27. Though many are eagerly waiting for the animated adventure to release this summer, critics have given a mixed verdict, with one saying, “There just isn’t a line or a situation that would make you laugh out loud.”
The Disney-Pixar film directed by Peter Sohn and written by John Hoberg, Kat Likkel, and Brenda Hsueh, will feature four different kinds of residents that reside in the Element City, along with its two main characters; Wade Ripple, a water element, and Ember Lumen, a fire element.
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'Pixar’s standards are so high that Elemental feels basic'
However, prior to its release, the film received some not-so-great reviews. "Pixar’s standards are so high that Elemental feels, well, basic," Radio Times writes. "No one can accuse director Peter Sohn ('The Good Dinosaur') or his team of under-thinking the ultra-creative studio’s latest high-concept feature, which takes the four elements as identified by various ancient cultures — Fire, Water, Earth and Air — and reimagines them as uneasy neighbors in a crowded modern metropolis. But fun as it can be to soak in the movie’s cheeky sense of detail (from flame-retardant costumes to blink-and-you-miss-them background puns), the whole scenario seems forced: so much world-building to tell a story better suited to flesh-and-blood human characters," Variety stated.
"It’s all there — so much so that Elemental may be the first work from Pixar to feel like it was generated entirely by AI. Not just the AI computing all the imagery, but literally an algorithm putting together a perfect Pixar movie. The problem, of course, is that the originality is mostly absent here, the wow factor has been lost, as is the thematic risk-taking that drove films like 'Wall-E,'" wrote The Hollywood Reporter, While Deadline wrote, "Pixar always had something new up its collective artistic sleeve. And yet here they are, coming out with a film as dull-witted and syrupy as Elemental. And added, "There just isn’t a line or a situation that would make you laugh out loud. Not even if you were four."
'Pixar’s most open-hearted writing in a while'
On the other hand, IndieWire wrote, "While nearly every line plays like a missed shot at a double-entendre, the film bursts to life when no one is talking, thanks to some gorgeous, eye-popping visuals born from the mysterious way light interacts with both characters during montages, tipping the film into abstract territory." "thanks too some of Pixar’s most open-hearted writing in a while, it develops into a genuinely sweet and moving courtship. Nor is it drowned out by the obligatory high-stakes finish – floodwaters surge towards the fire district – which instead affectingly tests the pair’s blossoming love," The Telegraph stated.
