Pixar has had a difficult period, three years long since the outbreak of the disease. However, that is not the biggest factor leading to the oblivion of this “big man” on the animated world map, especially before DreamWorks, Illumination, or even Disney itself. A studio that owns countless Oscars becomes lost, hard to believe but true. The failures of Lightyear nice Turning Red caused Pixar to fall behind, and the whole world continues to look forward to the latest movie Elemental – Land of the Elements.
Elemental There are great pressures: closing the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, being the only “horse” of Pixar on this year’s awards race. Elemental also had a lonely start with “rotten eggplant”, record low first-week sales and many controversies. Gradually, however, Elemental started to reverse the trend when the revenue gradually increased and reached the top 1 at the Vietnamese box office, “rotten coffee” also turned into “fresh coffee” and was praised and loved by the public. So what miracle helped? Elemental get a positive signal like that?
Back to anthropomorphism – the inherent strength of Pixar
Pixar’s conspicuous strength is not only in its own Elemental which in any other project has been its way of world-building before. With Elementalthe main context takes place in the Land of the Elements, where the four original “roots” according to the Western concept of water, air, earth and fire live together.
Called crowded because the model of the Elemental Land is quite majestic, but still cramped and suffocated by the huge number of inhabitants occupying all the space. Here, the concept of “immigration” is shown quite subtly by director Peter Sohn, especially through the fire citizens. In the elements, fire almost “carries” with the rest: causing water to boil, causing gas to heat, causing the earth to dry out. The image of fire citizens is separated, as metonymy for the very minorities who have to live in a community, isolated and rarely cared for by the public.
However, Peter Sohn does not completely agree with that, because he is simply the child of Asia. With the Asian concept, “mutual reciprocity” is an important decisive factor in the theory of the Five Elements. Fire can be extinguished by water, but if the fire is too big, water will also “stop”. Director Elemental want to use this same thesis, combined with the “fundamental element theory” of the West to make up Elemental own, where Fire also harmonizes with other elements, can also interfere, make friends and fall in love.
Right now, Peter Sohn’s creativity is at its peak, showing that he made the right choice of Pixar. In Elemental There are countless hidden details, interesting “puns” about the elements. For example, the female lead is named Ember (embers) and the male lead is named Wade (the act of wading across rivers and streams). Or, the fact that water guy Wade has a fear of sponges because he used to be sucked into it for an hour as a child. Even the inhabitants of the air (clouds) can fly, or the inhabitants of the land are quite mild-mannered, even gentle and…slowly, they are also shown in a lovely way.
The film easily attracts young audiences because of its interesting colors, thereby easily giving lessons about diversity, difference or the normal psycho-physiological maturation process of teenagers (easy to pick up). fire”, begins to grow in hair…) before leading viewers to more interesting stories about family or couple love.
Another ending for Romeo and Juliet
Pixar is definitely a growing kid. Pixar had a wonderful childhood with toys, insects, with dreams of flying into space or becoming a superhero. But now, it is the “young man” of Pixar who is at the age of first falling in love, daring to disobey his parents for the first time and learning how to pursue his freedom.
Elemental is an important milestone showing the change back to the original state of Pixar – a sensitive teenager, but also when Pixar came out of the previous 3 lost years to become more mature.
This detail is shown right in the Elemental exploits Ember and Wade’s relationship as a central element. The two were born with each other, but gradually fell in love with each other. The difference in body and body makes both attractive, but also a big barrier. Elemental appears as a modern day version of Romeo And Juliet, but Ember and Wade are built with more radical in mind.
Ember can represent the type of Asian son who loves his parents, but is under a lot of pressure about inheriting the family fortune or finding a “substitute” husband. Meanwhile, Wade is like a liberal, carefree young Western man and is “raised” by his family. The two come together and gradually improve themselves, in which Ember’s suffering is “touched” by Wade’s tolerance like cool water. He defied to be with her like his personality, and at the same time helped Ember boldly step out of his comfort zone to live for himself.
Despite the Ember family’s prohibition, or the difference, eternal rivalry of water and fire, the main couple Elemental still decided to walk side by side, even courageously making physical contact to prove that love will conquer all. The film brings a beautiful ending, meaning true to the spirit of Pixar, along with the familiar spices of loving yourself and being true to yourself no matter who you are.
Scoring: 3.5/5
Apparently the plot of Elemental quite “basic”, happening on the usual time axis and without any shocking “knots”. Many details in the film are also not satisfactory, for example, that sentient water residents still live with other “inanimate” water types such as rivers and streams. Or the fact that Wade falls in love with Ember too quickly and in a hurry is also a subject that makes viewers find it unconvincing.
This is certainly a great sacrifice of Pixar, creating controversial but necessary controversy. Pixar is ready to “burn” itself to ashes so that it can be reborn again later, entertaining longtime audiences with a story as old as the Earth about this boy who loves that girl despite the difference. , with the free burst of youth. But that emotion and message is the “elemental”, the basic element that helped Pixar grow to the top.
Elemental showing in theaters nationwide.
Photo: Disneyy