Elemental

An idea as simple as making a match of fire and water and Pixar are on to another absolute winner in Elemental.

Always the best at turning a simple, but wildly imaginative, concept into a thought-provoking, tear-inducing masterpiece this is another paean to life’s big emotions.

After handling emotion itself in the incomparable Inside Out and death in Coco and Soul (as well as family and coming-of-age in Onward and Turning Red) Elemental themes itself around love and acceptance.

Safe to say, this is Pixar’s first true romantic comedy (assuming you can’t count Toy Story or Cars in this) but Elemental also has plenty to say about culture, otherness and social division all told through the forehead-slappingly simple premise of a city made up of ‘element’ inhabitants i.e. air, earth, fire and water.

We focus on 'fire girl' Ember and 'water boy' Wade as they follow the standard rom-com path but this is lovingly interwoven with her second-generation story and his ‘lost in the world’ feelings.

It’s an absolute triumph with the requisite imagination, warmth, touching script and ingenious and laugh-inducing background moments.

Perhaps, being absolutely brutal, there is more to get from the concept here but focusing on this particular coupling is right for this film (with perhaps a sequel or spin-off waiting to get more from this multi-faceted world.)

It’ll raise the hairs, induce a smile, coax a tear and stir the mind.

How do they keep doing it?!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️