ELEMENTAL

MiMi and Grandpa had a date to take Grandkids, Ella and Luke, to see a movie on an afternoon when, for a change, they were all four free and available for leisure and fun! The choice was the Disney and Pixar Studio movie that has just hit the local screens in a big way, and it was computer animation at its finest…..ELEMENTAL. (PG rated for some peril, a little sort of bad language, and some maybe questionable thematic elements….. An hour and 43 minutes running time.)

The “visuals” are dynamic and dazzling and basically non-stop, and the topic is one that has endured through the ages—forbidden, or at least not recommended, love between two partners who do not seem to “go together” at all. In this movie, the two are FIRE and WATER.

And the romance involves WADE (played/spoken by Mamoudou Athie) and EMBER (played/spoken by Leah Lewis)—and both characters are loveable, rather than helpless and “tough guy,” as too often has occurred in the past with animation and with live characters. They fall in love after a plumbing “emergency” calls for the attention of Wade to fix the problems at the convenience store, that just happens to be owned by Ember’s Dad.

The setting of the movie is in ELEMENT CITY with land, water, fire, and air residents all living together. And what forms the “real story” of this romantic comedy/ drama feature is the forbidden and seemingly impossible love!

Ember’s parents (fire) have immigrated and have faced fear from residents, who live in the city, such as Wade’s parents. I will not tell you who does and says what to whom, for that would ruin the story and its outcome.

Needless to say, “the course of true love does not run smoothly.” (Some famous writer penned those words years and years ago!)

When the movie ended, it seemed the people in the theatre (mixture of various aged youths and some adults) seemed happy to have been in the audience, and Ella and Luke both enjoyed their refreshments, stayed wide awake, did not fidget, and told us that they really liked the show!

MiMi, who has had one day to review her feelings, says she stands by her “A” rating.

Audience ratings are running about 90+%, while critics are standing at about 80% or just a little lower. A consensus stated the following: …..“may not satisfy as fully as the greatest Pixar features, but remains a solid story told with dazzling visual flair.”

I, Grandpa, was not so wholeheartedly enthusiastic and reluctantly give the movie a “C+” for lack of believability! I feel bad about that since so many other folks have really liked it, but “it is what it is!” I guess I am too old or too “not a Romantic.”

One final note to relate definitions supplied for the word, ELEMENTAL—primary or basic; embodying the powers of nature; a supernatural entity or force, thought to be physically manifested by occult means.