Elemental

Zootopia with Elements

In my opinion, the 4 elements trope is largely overdone. If this is to continue to be used in cinema, they really have to get creative with it. Elemental (2023) had so much creativity behind it but failed to explore it fully.

It was a pretty movie, don’t get me wrong, the visual were interesting and the colors were all there. However, they halfway explored the logistics in the world and left so much room to think.

The writing was very mediocre. The basis of the story was very odd. They set up so many things but did almost nothing with them. I did enjoy the metaphor of the glass structure and the relationship between Wade and Ember. The dialogue was reminiscent of a Rom Com however, the delivery just made what would be great dialogue in a classic Rom Com, and turned it into something rather cringy. Something about the delivery and characters caused it to loose its sincerity.

The metaphors for racism were HEAVILY painted throughout the movie, which was somewhat expected based of the story. However, we mostly saw discrimination against the water people, because the film was so concentrated on the fire people. Also, the idea of different races being portrayed as different elements seems like a loaded gun, especially with the nature of some of those elements being more destructive or dangerous.

Overall, the movie was vibrant, colorful, and creative in nature. There were a lot of logistical issues I had with the film. I also feel like the movie targeted the wrong genre and focused on the wrong aspects.