It’s fairly rare that beloved animation studio Pixar makes a straightforward romantic movie — the films they produce frequently focus on family love and friendship love, but it’s not often to see a swooning love story between two individuals as we do in Peter Sohn’s “Elemental,” a kind of “Romeo and Juliet” riff featuring the forbidden love between two elements that never easily mix: fire and water.
“Elemental” is also an immigrant story, about a family forced to leave one homeland to seek a new life in a strange new place. A pre-title sequence follows Bernie (Ronnie del Carmen) and Cinder (Shila Ommi) as they arrive in Elemental City from their home in Fireland. Though the water, earth, air and fire elements share a complicated coexistence in this bustling metropolis, Bernie and Cinder don’t find warm hospitality there. As they seek shelter for their burgeoning family, Cinder pregnant, and are turned away, it harkens to the biblical story of the birth of Jesus.
The couple transform their “manger,” a crumbling old building, into The Fireplace, a shop and cafe that serves as the hub of Firish culture in the heart of Firetown. They hope that their daughter Ember (Leah Lewis) will be able to take over the shop when she’s ready, passing on their business to her with the same reverence that they intend to pass on their beloved, ever-burning Firish blue flame.
