Following the familiar 'Romeo and Juliet' template, the latest movie from Pixar Animation puts a new spin on a tale of opposites attracting.
It’s rare that beloved animation studio Pixar makes a straightforward romantic movie — the films it produces frequently focus on family love and friendship. It’s not often we see a swooning love story between two individuals such as the one in“Elemental,” a kind of “Romeo and Juliet” riff featuring the forbidden love between two elements that don’t usually mix: fire and water.
“Elemental” is also an immigrant story, about a family forced to leave their homeland to seek a new life in a strange place. A pre-title sequence follows Bernie and Cinder as they arrive in Elemental City from their home in Fireland. Though water, earth, air and fire share a complicated coexistence in this bustling metropolis, Bernie and Cinder don’t find warm hospitality there.
The couple transform their “manger,” a crumbling old building, into the Fireplace, a shop and cafe that serves as the hub of Firish culture in the heart of Firetown. They hope that their daughter Ember will be able to take over the shop when she’s ready, passing on their business to her with the same reverence that they intend to pass on their beloved, ever-burning Firish blue flame.
But it’s the romance that makes “Elemental” worth your time and emotional investment, thanks to a romantic male lead who isn’t made up of the same stuff we’ve seen in Disney movies of yore. Wade is water, and he’s an emotional guy. After Ember loses her temper and bursts a pipe in the shop, Wade, a chipper city inspector, comes flowing into her life.
But this modern kind of love proves irresistible. It’s a refreshing update to Shakespeare’s hormonal teens, and the proud, barrel-chested Disney princes of yore. Voiced with a unique tenderness by Athie, what makes Wade lovable is his kindness, his vulnerability, his willingness to share his emotions and his delight in all of Ember’s distinctly fiery qualities.
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