Review : Elemental : Fire and Water Love Story!
It’s always said that in love, opposites attract. In Disney and Pixar’s film, #Elemental, it surfaces strongly as it projects a Hot love story between the two opposite elements, Fire and Water. The movie successfully tries to throw a few social messages too, like to follow one’s dreams without bothering about the consequences, to address one’s shortcomings, accepting opposites with differences etc. The movie is more relatable to the he Indian audiences as it has ‘elements’ usually found in Indian films, especially Hindi films. Also fire, water, air and earth, the elements of nature, are shown co-existing. Even a couple of songs resemble Indian movie tunes (no plagiarism though). But the film is entertaining and one of the best anime films in recent times.
Bernie (Voiced by Ronnie del Carmen), the fire, migrates from the fire city to the Element city and starts a store ‘Fireplace’. He wants his daughter Ember to take over but is reluctant to hand over complete charge due to her anger issues. She takes a wager with him to manage the shop for a day without his help. On a Red Dot sale day, she is bogged down by the pressures of customers and runs to the basement to vent out her again. But instead a pipe bursts and a water element Wade Ripples appears as a health inspector. He gives negative rankings but Ember first fights with him then pleads as she doesn’t want to lose the license her father’s shop. Feeling pity Wade starts helping her to strike out the tickets and they are a given a task to prove their innocence. What transpires further forms the crux of the story under the love sparking between the two opposite elements and ‘love changing the chemistry’.
The plot takes place in the beautiful surroundings with modern amenities. The beauty of the story is that it keeps you engrossed throughout. Kudos to the writers, John Hoberg, Kat Likkel and Brenda Hsueh. They have created relatable characters despite they being mystical elements of nature. The screenplay is pacy which compels viewers engrossed and keeps them glued to the screen lest they miss something important. The director (Peter Sohn) has humanised these elements and the voice actors have nailed it with perfection. The imagination of the storyteller is mind blowing as the line between the real and anime world looks blurred. Cinematography by Davis Juan Bianchi and Jean-Claude Kalache is excellent and gives an out of the world experience. The music looks inspired from Indian music and is good and hummable. The dialogues are in today’s lingo and the humour in it is entertaining. Leah Lewis, Mamoudou and others give human touch to the characters and their voice acting is superlative.
Elemental is a complete family entertainer and not to be missed movie.
****