Review: 'Elemental' lights you up & ripples your funny bones while being entertaining albeit formulaic

Elemental

The impossible love story of fire and water. Both are elements and both are pretty much as opposite as one can imagine them to be. However, in Disney and PIxar's latest animated megafilm, 'Elemental', the imagination and creativity attached to this goes beyond possibilities with a blend of humor, heartbreak, sacrifice and just the kind of humanly traits that are endearing. Having had the chance to see Elemental beforehand, here is what I thought about it-

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Groundbreaking Animation

It is basically like saying that water is wet and a Sanjay Leela Bhansali set is grand -  as we say that the animation in this film is stupendous. Disney and PIxar have rarely had misses in their entire filmography and even in those rare misses, their animation has never faced any criticism and rightfully so. 

The world creation and conviction attached to making these animated characters feel as real as they can be is so breath-taking that even if you, for some reason, don't feel invested in the core story, you will still be enamoured by what these studious achieve in what is always rising above benchmarks in the animation industry.

Endless Possibilities & Human Touch

Inside Out in 2015 became the mega success it did because of how it went on to touch on a topic nobody could even think of - what if human emotions could talk and had their own conflicts! On similar lines, we have elements here - mainly fire and water and the supporting characters that include air and earth among others that are given these adorable human traits. Every frame, every screenplay decision is just an example of how the creativity of the makers was perhaps unhinged - and thank god for that! 

Adding human traits to fire and water is done so cleverly that it always feels fascinating - be it having the classic human storyline of a father who hates his probable future son-in-law, the age-old enmity between fire and water, the innocence of water, fire elements having their own fire shop and so on.

The Humor & Core Story

Some puns might feel forced but they are still hilarious  - 'buy something by getting off your lazy ash', 'this is lighting you up', 'you looking smoking', and so on. Apart from that, the whole parallel story of water element Dave and his family being constant criers, and jokes landing left, right and centre on multiple occasions - the humor becomes a key component in making Elemental as entertaining as it is.

In the end, your entire effort might have gone for a toss if the core story did not connect. To the makers' credit, it does. Granted that the story is rather cliched - right from the father-daughter dynamic to impossible love story phenomena - but even then, with a few gaps in this saga, the overall storyline connects and has you invested.

The Need For More 'Elemental' Characters

This is just me but I really missed having more elements, to witness their quirks and traits. The only glimpses we get apart from protagonists, fire and water - are air and earth but that aren't enough. We see that Element City is humungous and hence to be having a film only relying on a couple of elements started feeling a tad repetitive, More elements, even in cameo appearances would have been such a refreshing take.

The Verdict

Elemental is definitely not Disney and Pixar's best by any means but it doesn't need to be. It is still delivers the quintessential cute, gentle, loving, heart-warming time at the movies that makes you feel positive and satisfied in the end - and boy do we need that!

Rating - ***1/2 (3.5/5)

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