f it\u0027s possible for a Pixar movie to be both cute and problematic, \u0022Elemental\u0022 might just fit that bill.
Curiously, for a film said to have been inspired by the immigration story of Sohn’s family – and from a writing team that includes Brenda Hsueh, a Chinese American – the movie opts to follow the Western template of four elements, leaving out metal, a fifth element included in both Chinese and Korean philosophy. It’s a missed opportunity to celebrate Asian heritage.
Okay, so it’s a hodgepodge immigrant allegory. But it’s also a “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”-style love story: Ember, who works in her father’s shop, the Fireplace, meets and eventually falls in love with water inspector Wade Ripple , and decides to hide him from her family, who do not approve of Water people. Wade’s wealthy family, for their part, are limousine liberals, but some of their unconscious biases occasionally bubble up during an amusing, meet-the parents dinner party.
All this plays out against some imposing physical challenges for these young lovebirds: Wade and Ember cannot ever touch, lest he potentially “extinguish” her, or she cause him to “evaporate.” Yikes! Yes, Hsueh and her co-writers, John Hoberg and Kat Likkel, have really thought this thing out.
Okay, okay. It’s a fable, people. “Elemental” is a metaphorically loosey-goosey fairy tale about tolerance, cultural pride and assimilation, set in a stick-to-your-own-kind world that makes the relationship between the star-crossed lovers in “West Side Story” look like a walk in the park. Cute, kind of clever and oh, so topical. But also problematic.
Just think of the sequel, when an Airhead wants to bring her Earth boyfriend home from college to meet her blowhard father. I’ve already got a name for it: “Dust Storm.”
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