“Elemental”, a story of inclusion with little magic

Listen to the audio version of the article

Did Pixar turn off the light? Unfortunately, it has been a few years now that the famous American animation house has been struggling to regain the high levels achieved in the past, thanks to masterpieces such as “Wall-E” (2008), “Inside Out” (2015) or the “Toy Story” saga ”, which began in 1995 with the first feature film made by the company which has a jumping lamp as its logo.
After the very good results of “Soul” (2020), several minor products have arrived such as “Luca” (2021), “Red” (2022) and “Lightyear” (2022), but unfortunately the trend has not reversed with “Elemental ”, the new work of Pixar Animation, protagonist of the weekend in theaters.
Set in a city populated by citizens belonging to the four essential elements (fire, water, air and earth), the film tells of the sudden friendship between Ember, a tenacious and impetuous girl, and Wade, a witty and hypersensitive boy. Belonging to different elements, their bond seems impossible, but they will end up undermining the certainties and points of reference of the world in which they live.

Inclusion, tolerance, understanding for those who seem different: these are the ingredients of “Elemental”, a film with important themes which, however, often lacks the right panache to be able to entertain as it would like.

Directed by Peter Sohn, former director of “Arlo’s Journey”, this new film unfortunately lacks the magic we are often used to in front of Pixar products (animation house purchased by Disney way back in 2006).

Beautiful images in a predictable script

The visual apparatus is of a high level, but it is not enough to hide the limits of a script that is too predictable and obvious, as well as the victim of numerous passages that are not very engaging, especially in the central part. The film starts well, managing to excite, but then fades away gradually due to excessive attention to the starting message which ends up diminishing the possible dramaturgical force of the story. Pixar, always remarkable, to give life to interesting coming-of-age stories, full of metaphors and symbolic elements relating to the various passages of existence. In this case, however, only positive and successful ideas remain within a drawing of ‘together that at one point seems to be content with barely reaching the sufficiency without wanting to risk too much.

Houria

Among the novelties in the room we note “Houria”, an Algerian film by Mounia Meddour. The protagonist is a girl, a great lover of classical dance, who goes through a traumatic experience, from which she comes out with serious physical impairments. The young woman, however, gets up again, despite her wounds, thanks also to other women who have experienced situations similar to hers. From the director of “You don’t know Papicha”, another female film that manages to combine the individual story of the protagonist with a universal reasoning on Algeria: while protests continue in the country, Houria finds a way not to abandon her passion, thanks also to a form of resilient sisterhood that helps her a lot in this sense. Some passages of the narration are excessively didactic and the pace is fluctuating, but “Houria” is still a film to be seen for its sincerity and for the passion with which the director deals with a series of delicate themes that are far from simple to tell. Monia Meddour manages to avoid the many possible traps rhetoric present along the way and, despite some superfluous moments, builds an interesting and strong product of some sequences that are remembered for a long time at the end of the vision.