ELEMENTAL (2023)

A happy exception to the recent decline (in quality & coin) of current Disney & Disney/PIXAR animation; the film slowly but surely turning into something of a modest hit.  Deservedly so as this surreptitious Immigrant’s Sentimental Education comes loaded with enough feeling, whimsy & technical bravado to make up for any missteps.*  Concentrating on only two of the elements, Water and Fire, probably necessary to keep the running time down, but it likely signals future sequels for Earth & Wind.  (Boo!)  And while the race allegory of segregated Elements doesn’t quite hold up (what landlord wouldn’t refuse renting to a flaming ember apt to set the place ablaze?), the easy parallel is too likeably obvious to object to, and the rest of the story: Laid-back Water Being falls for a hot-tempered shopkeeper’s daughter Firebrand, is charming, a hot water bottle in the making.  (Kinda sexy, too.)  But the main fun comes in watching how the PIXAR creatives figure out one near-impossible technical challenge after another, a series of can-you-top-this animation, as the pair deal with an exponentially dangerous water leak that leads from Mr. Fire’s shop to threaten all of Element City.  First generation Korean-American Peter Sohn directs, a reward for getting THE GOOD DINOSAUR/’15 in reasonable shape  (https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2023/07/you-can-ignore-troubled-history-behind.html), here bringing in some personal immigrant childhood memories and a winning never-look-back approach.  It's also very well paced, with calm interludes not much seen recently.  Plus getting fabulous vocal perfs out of his two leads: combustible Leah Lewis and teary charmer Mamoudou Athie.  This one better than the sum of its separate elemental parts.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  Neat gag at a sports arena when the Water Beings let loose in their stadium seats with the fan Wave of your dreams.  And is that game being played a version of Quidditch, the Harry Potter sport even J..D. Rowlings seemed to grow tired of?

SCREWY THOUGHT OFTHE DAY:  *One misstep is a plant character (Element Earth) heading into puberty & plucking small flowering seedlings from his ‘arm pits’ to offer Ms. Ember.  A disturbing sight!