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Elemental (2023) - Movie Review

Where to Watch: Disney + Hotstar

When I think about Pixar, the first movie that comes to mind is "Toy Story 3" (my favourite animated movie). In 2022, Pixar released "Lightyear" a spin-off of the "Toy Story" Series focusing on one of the series' main characters "Buzz Lightyear". "Lightyear" was a box-office bomb and received mixed reviews. I felt the first 15-20 minutes of that movie were good, but after that it went haywire.

In June 2023, Pixar's twenty-seventh movie "Elemental" was released. It is a marked improvement over both "Lightyear" and "Good Dinosaur"(Peter Sohn served as the director for both "Good Dinosaur" and "Elemental").

This movie premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival where it received mixed reviews, but the reviews became more positive when it reached wider audiences. 

It is the story of the four elements of nature - Fire, Water, Earth, and Air. The focus is on characters belonging to the first two elements - Fire and Water. One can draw parallels between "The Elements" of the movie and how our human society co-exists (with people carrying preconceived notions and belonging to different social strata). The elements also live by one rule, "Elements don't mix!". When I read about the movie's development, I found it drew inspiration from the director's experiences as an immigrant.

For me, It felt like the first time I saw movies like "Inside Out" and "Soul". It was both touching and funny at the same time. I can definitely say that this one is better than the relatively newer Pixar movies like "Coco", "Onward", "Luca", "Turning Red" and "Lightyear". I think the Critics have compared this movie to Pixar's best. If "Elemental" had been released by another Production Studio, it might have received better reviews.

Ignore the negative rants. Watch "Elemental".

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