Pixar's new film Elemental is pleasant overall and gorgeous to look at, but fails to reach the height of Pixar's best work.
In Element City, the elements fire, water, air, and earth live together but are still segregated in many ways. The fire-woman Ember (voiced by Leah Lewis) is preparing to take over her immigrant parents' eatery when a leak thrusts water-man city inspector Wade (voiced by Mamoudou Athie) into her life. After an initial conflict between the two, a romance slowly develops.
There are themes about bigotry and the plight of immigrants, but the film has no real antagonist, a flaw that also handicapped Frozen 2. The closest thing to an antagonist in the film is crumbling city infrastructure, which is something New Orleanians can likely relate to but doesn't easily make for great drama. Pixar's Soul and Inside Out were both excellent films without a classic bad guy, but those scripts also had stronger quests driving their leads. Elemental looks great and is by no means bad, but the lack of dramatic tension makes it feel a little aimless. The children packing the auditorium will enjoy it well enough, but it never seizes your heart the way the Toy Story films, Up, and Zootopia did.
