Why is no one talking about how good ELEMENTAL is?
I just watched ELEMENTAL last night, and I actually got teary-eyed, just like I got teary-eyes at the beginning of UP or during Jesse’s flashback in TOY STORY 2. So why isn’t ELEMENTAL being held in the same regard?
And audiences agree with me. They gave ELEMENTAL a score of 93%.
Weirdly, critics scored it much lower, 74%, I wish I had some theory as why. The movie has deeper themes of generational trauma, following your heart vs. staying loyal to your family, assimilation vs. staying loyal to your culture -- the kind of stuff that’s usually catnip to critics.
As far as why ELEMENTAL didn’t have the success of past Pixar films, despite being really, really good? Well, I have three theories.
1. Disney actively hid what the movie was really about.
It’s about immigration. Immigrants coming to this country and facing xenophobia as they carve out a life for themselves while staying true to their culture. That used to be the story Americans told when they wanted to feel good about themselves. Now, though, immigrants have become a convenient boogeyman, and maybe Disney was afraid they’d wind up on the wrong side of the culture war, which is kind of depressing, to be honest.
2. It’s not really a comedy
I know the trailers did their best to make it look like a a comedy, and I even think the movie thought of itself as a comedy, but the humor was all visual jokes of the four elemental beings bumping into, or interacting with each other, which was interesting, and often inventive, but for me at least not really laugh out loud.
There’s been this weird trend in blockbusters where everything has to be funny. Think of MCU movies. The first phase were straight-up action adventure, the ones now are almost all action comedies. Not that that’s always bad. THOR: RAGNOROK is the best of the bunch because it dropped the operatic seriousness and embraced just how goofy Thor can be, but now it seems every movie gunning to be a blockbuster also has to be a comedy, like Hollywood’s terrified of sincere emotions. ELEMENTAL embraced sincere emotions and was the better for it, not that you could tell that from the advertising, which tried to sell it as a non-stop laugh riot.
3. It’s not even a kids’ movie
Okay, I know, I know, it shouldn’t have to be a kids’ movie, but the assumption in Hollywood and for American audiences is that animated movies are always for kids.
Let’s face it, it shouldn’t be surprising that a movie about two young adults falling in love didn’t have immediate appeal to kids, even if one of them was made of fire and the other water.
Was it perfect?
Well, I always have quibbles. I usually love scores by Thomas Newman but this one seemed cut and pasted from another movie, and there’s this pop song they use in the movie, a lot. It was mediocre and unmemorable.
Also, there was this subplot about Ember wanting to see a Vivisteria flower that could have been cut (though it produced some great visuals). Anyway, flaws aside, I still loved the movie, and if Pixar can’t succeed with an animated movie geared toward adults, who knows when we’ll get to see another one.
And I just watched Doctor Who’s third special, THE GIGGLE
(Spoilers ahead)
I loved it. I mean, I’m an old Doctor Who fan so of course I was going to love it. I had heard rumors about the bi-generation and was absolutely dreading it, but I thought it was handled well by tying it into the theme that Tennant’s Doctor really needed to stop running and settle down. And Ncuti Gatwa nailed it. I cannot wait for the Christmas special.
Still, two things bugged me.
1. It doesn’t seem the Doctors actually outsmarted the Toymaker. The Toymaker just dropped the ball (literally). Maybe I missed something that will clearer on the rewatch. (Hell yes, I’m watching it again.) But the Doctors winning by pure luck was a bit anti-climactic.
2. If you want the 14th to really settle down and experience ordinary life, don’t give him a TARDIS! Nipping off to Mars or the Gilded Age is a bit of a cheat, isn’t it?
And not so much a flaw as an observation: You would think Kate Steward would know by now when the Doctor says don’t attack, you really should listen to them.
Also, I wish I could say Doctor Who was free of toxic fandom, but I think Jodie’s era disabused us of that notion. So I fear with 14/Tennant still out there (with his very own TARDIS, no less) expect a lot of whining that we now have Ncuti Gatwa instead of him. Heck, I’m sure some troglodyte is no doubt trying to get #NotMYDoctor trending right now.
Oh well, trolls gonna troll.