Elemental Reviews Roundup - Another Animated Misfire From Disney? -

The Good Dinosaur director Peter Sohn is helming another Pixar film that will focus on a Ember, a fiery character, and Wade a chilled water character and how they discover their similarities despite their differences. The film got its first trailer at last year’s D23 Expo from Disney. Leah Lewis will play Ember, while Mamoudou Athie will play Wade. In an exclusive look at the D23 showcase, Pixar showed a scene of the two learning a bit about each other as they walked through Element City. The film was supposed to be Disney’s comeback in the animated game as post the pandemic Dreamworks’ films have been kicking their butts. However, it looks like Elemental has crashed with the critics as it has become the lowest rated original movie in studio history on Rotten Tomatoes.

Elemental Reviews Round-Up: What Is Wrong With It?

Jo-Ann Titmarsh (London Evening Standard) – “For all Elemental’s many charms, this nonsensical film simply doesn’t cut the mustard.” Original Score: 2/5

Ed Potton {Times (UK)} – “A flawed but big-hearted tale of forbidden love.” Original Score: 3/5

Robbie Collin {Daily Telegraph (UK)} – “While unlikely to feature on many people’s favourite Pixar lists, Elemental brings with it the satisfying creak of a ship being righted.” Original Score: 3/5

Jordan Mintzer (Hollywood Reporter) – “The elements all fit perfectly into place — so much so that the creative flames are doused, and we’re left without much of an impression.”

Peter Debruge (Variety) – “I reckon there are more ideas per second of screentime in “Elemental” than any other Pixar movie to date. So why does this imagination-teasing opposites-attract rom-com feel like a misfire?”

Siddhant Adlakha (indieWire) – “As conflicted as they come: a heavy-handed, mixed bag immigrant metaphor punctuated by a genuinely moving romance. It gets frequently lost down the rabbit-hole of its own conceptual details but yields occasionally stunning images and thoughtful aesthetics.” Original Score: B

Matt Neglia (Next Best Picture) – “”Elemental” will warm your heart and move you to tears.” Original Score: 8/10

The current Rotten Tomatoes score of Elemental is 57% only, risking it to get a “rotten” rating if more bad reviews are added. This is the lowest rated Pixar film ever. For comparison, here are the scores of other Pixar films:

A Bug’s Life: 92%
Luca: 91%
Onward: 88%
Monsters University: 80%
Brave: 79%
The Good Dinosaur: 75%
Lightyear: 74%
Cars: 75%
Cars 3: 68%
Cars 2: 40%

Disney’s Elemental will release in theatres on 16th June 2023.

If you have any questions regarding Disney’s Elemental, feel free to ask in the comments below. For more content, stay tuned. As usual, like, subscribe and share our articles as we here are trying to build a community of people High on Cinema!

Sameer Talawdekar

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A student of cinema with a keen eye and an acquired taste. Blunt and critical while reviewing, if Sameer says a film is good, it’s basically a guarantee that it is. He may not like what you do, but that’s what makes him a quality fit for any cinema publication. He craves excellence and perfection and that’s why you can blindly trust his word!

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