If there’s one thing we love about animation powerhouse Pixar, it’s their knack for taking us into heretofore unimaginable worlds then flipping the script by showing us a mirror of our own. So we’re deathlessly excited for their latest offering, Elemental, which arrives in New Zealand cinemas on June 22.
Elemental is a love story ala Romeo and Juliet more than anything else. It sets its scene in Element City, a fantastical place populated by various, well, elements—anthropomorphic manifestations of various essential substances. Our star-cross’d lovers are fire girl Ember Lumen (Leah Lewis), a “tough, quick-witted and fiery young woman,” and water boy Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie), a “fun, sappy, go-with-the-flow guy.” As you can see from the teaser, they have a little meet-cute, there’s an instant attraction, and things proceed from there.
Pixar veteran Peter Sohn (The Good Dinosaur) is directing from a screenplay by Brenda Hsueh (How I Met Your Mother), and the film is inspired by his experiences growing up as the child of Korean immigrants in New York City.
“My parents emigrated from Korea in the early 1970s and built a bustling grocery store in the Bronx,” he explained. “We were among many families who ventured to a new land with hopes and dreams—all of us mixing into one big salad bowl of cultures, languages, and beautiful little neighbourhoods. That’s what led me to Elemental.” As you can tell from the trailer, the film is definitely digging into issues around cross-cultural romance, and while the body count is surely lower than, say, West Side Story, the parallels are clear.
Element City is yet another in a long line of brilliantly conceived Pixar settings, such as Finding Nemo’s gloriously realised Great Barrier Reef and Monsters, Inc.’s Monster City. But we’re also really feeling notes of Inside Out’s exploration of the human psyche. Get to the cinema for this one and you’ll be in your element.
