‘Elemental’ Review: Pixar’s Fire & Water Metaphor For Tolerance & Differences Is Sadly Dull & Safe

Flicking through Twitter on a Friday night is not an ideal way to start the weekend.

Police have launched a murder investigation after a 15-year-old boy was stabbed to death in Lancashire.

At the end of January 2020, Bolton-born performer Joe Leather was working on a show in Shanghai when he decided to come back to the UK for a couple of weeks. Little did he know that the pandemic would lead to that fortnight’s holiday becoming a little more permanent than imagined.

Thousands of people in one Greater Manchester borough have put their name to a petition to leave the region entirely.

“They guide our generations and pave the way for us to take the paths we can take today. Guidance, not only through generations of advocacy and activism but in everyday life and how to place ourselves in the world.”

Kendall Jenner‘s legs look like they’re miles long during an outing in New York City on Thursday (June 29).

The campy romp Cocaine Bear and buzzy comedy series Only Murders in the Building nabbed four trophies apiece and Christopher Nolan’s upcoming Oppenheimer took three at the 23rd annual Golden Trailer Awards, which were handed out Thursday night in Los Angeles. See the full list of winners below.

Yes, despite her character Carrie being the last “single girl” in the Sex and the City universe, in real life she’s actually had the longest marriage out of any of her fellow cast mates. 

A Government-funded environmental group is calling for a ban on single use disposable vapes to be considered.

Olivia Rodrigo gets bloody in the music video for her new single “Vampire,” a gothic, piano-centric track that tells off a certain “fame fucker.” The first single from her forthcoming sophomore album “Guts,” “Vampire” begins as a ballad with Rodrigo singing in an ethereal field of flowers. As the song ramps up to the chorus, Rodrigo’s vocals increase in power, singing in her signature belt: “Bloodsucker, fame fucker/ Bleeding me dry like a goddamn vampire.” The Petra Collins-directed music video then sees Rodrigo get hit by a falling light — which also triggers a tempo switch — as it’s revealed that she is actually performing on stage at an awards show. Suffering from a nasty cut to her shoulder, Rodrigo continues to put on a show as the beat drives on, smearing the blood across her face and white dress in the process.

Gary Neville has question marks over whether Mason Mount will tactically fit into Manchester United's midfield.

It is no surprise Manchester United are set to end June without a new signing to show off.

Shakira becomes part of our world in the music video for her new single “Copa Vacia.”

Olivia Rodrigo‘s long-awaited sophomore era has officially begun with the unveiling of her new single “Vampire.”

Roadside Attractions has released the trailer for “Dreamin’ Wild”, the upcoming biographical music-drama that tells a moving story about prevailing against all odds.

Sarah Jessica Parker is getting real on aging in Hollywood.

Jada Pinkett Smith’s forthcoming memoir, Worthy, will clear the air on several rumours and assumptions made about her over the years.

Here are your Friday morning Manchester United headlines.

Madonna was putting in serious work preparing for her  before being hospitalized earlier this week.The «Like a Prayer» singer was in the intensive care unit dealing with a serious bacterial infection, which developed Saturday, leading to a several-day stay in the ICU.A source tells ET that Madonna was «doing well and feeling good in her rehearsals» and staying up as late as 3:30 a.m. some nights to perfect her moves for the coming tour prior to suffering the infection.«She is a night person and normally sleeps during the day and then gets to work at night,» the source continues.

real. But perhaps the best place to start the seasonal purge is within your own beauty bag. And if you've been looking for an excuse to restock on some more updated products, Sephora's Fourth of July Sale arrived at the perfect time.Now through Tuesday, July 4, Sephora shoppers can get up to 50% off top-selling makeup, hair care and skincare products with incredible steals.

Marvin Kitman, a television critic for 35 years with Newsday and a prominent author best remembered for his examination of George Washington’s financial situation, died today at the Actors Fund Home in Englewood, N.J. He was 93 and died from cancer, according to his son, Jamie Kitman.

Hailey and Justin Bieber have a twinning moment during a date night on Thursday (June 29) in Santa Monica, Calif.

Jonathan Majors was the subject of a bombshell report published by Rolling Stone, and his legal team is responding.

Kelly Clarkson opened up during a recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live.

Sophia Culpo is seemingly clearing the air about her breakup with Braxton Berrios.

Taylor Swift is teasing a Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) song in the trailer for The Summer I Turned Pretty – Just Jared Jr Kim Kardashian opened up about Kanye West – DListed Jennifer Aniston hinted at her workout routine – Egotastic Jenna Ortega opened up about working with Christina Ricci – Just Jared Jr

Priscilla Presley, the former wife of the legendary Elvis Presley, and her close encounter with joining the renowned Kardashian family. After her divorce from Elvis in 1973, Priscilla entered a relationship with Robert Kardashian Sr., the lawyer who would later gain fame for his involvement in the O.J. Simpson trial.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor The story behind Pixar’s latest animated feature “Elemental” is a personal one to filmmaker Peter Sohn. The opening shows a family arriving at the fictional port of Elemental City, which closely reflected the immigration story of Sohn’s parents from Korea to New York. The story breathes life into the earth elements of fire, water, land and air, depicting them as residents of Elemental City. When Ember (Leah Lewis), a fiery young woman, meets go-with-the-flow water being Wade (Mamoudou Athie), they discover that, despite their conflicts, they have a lot in common. As the two fall in love, Ember is faced with the internal conflict of being with Wade or following in her parents’ footsteps and running the family business. As the son of first-generation immigrants, Ember’s struggle reflected not only Sohn’s personal experience, but that of many of the animators and storytellers behind the scenes.

's title character and EVE,'s Woody and Bo Peep, or (get your tissues ready)'s Carl and Ellie. But not until has a Pixar movie focused so directly on a love story between the central couple, drawing inspiration from beloved rom-coms of the past to shape the chemistry between its main characters: Ember Lumen (Leah Lewis), a young, headstrong fire element, and Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie), a fun and sensitive water element.Lewis and Athie joined ET's Matt Cohen at Pixar Animation Studios in San Francisco recently to discuss more about their characters and the upcoming film, which has been seven years in the making for director Peter Sohn, who previously directed  for Pixar. takes place in Element City, in a universe where different elements — fire, water, earth and air — traditionally keep to themselves, sometimes facing xenophobic attitudes as they strive to live alongside one another.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Pete Docter, Pixar’s creative chief officer, is hoping the animation studio’s 27th release, “Elemental,” will draw families to movie theaters this weekend. Peter Sohn‘s film is a story about immigration, families, duty and love. Not only does Docter say the visuals are “a spectacle,” but believes it should be experienced with an audience. Docter, who has been with the studio since the beginning and was upped to CCO in 2018, has come under criticism recently that Pixar has lost its magic touch. Here, Docter sits down with Variety over Zoom to discuss Pixar’s approach to programming, Cannes, “Elemental,” and what’s next for the studio.

on Rotten Tomatoes) and little being sold beyond “Hey, it’s the next Pixar film!”), the Peter Sohn-directed flick could struggle to match the $29 million Fri-Sun debut (amid a $39 million Wed-Sun launch) of “Toy Story” back in 1995, let alone the over/under $39 million Fri-Sun debuts of “The Good Dinosaur” in 2015 and “Onward” (which opened a week before COVID shut down the world) in 2020.Just running the numbers, if “Elemental” legs over the weekend like “Lightyear” ($51 million from a $5.2 million Thursday), it’ll open with just $23.5 million by Sunday night. Being more optimistic, however unlikely, if “Elemental” legs like “Cars 3” ($53 million/$2.6 million), well, then it opens with $49 million and you can ignore the next few paragraphs of doom-n-gloom.Generally speaking, animated movies tend to make less of their money on Thursday night, since general audiences are more inclined to wait until the proper weekend to take their kids.

Elemental” has several classic film inspirations behind it, ranging all the way from the 1967 romantic drama “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” to 1974’s “Godfather 2” (you read that right). For director Peter Sohn, no film was off-limits for a story that held deep personal connection to him.

Disney and Pixar’s new movie Elemental is now playing in theaters and will give families a great new option for their summer plans.

the struggling animation studio has picked their most rudimentary characters ever — fire and water. Far from the ingeniously realized robot in “Wall-E” or the scrappy rodent chef of “Ratatouille,” here simple flames gab, droplets ride the subway and blades of grass work office jobs. Fire riding a bicycle — really? The movie walks a fine line between clever adventure and Pixar self-parody.Running time: 103 minutes.

McKinley Franklin editor It’s time to take a dive into the Communiverse.  Disney and Pixar have released the first official trailer for the upcoming animated science fiction feature “Elio,” which is set to debut on March 1, 2024.  “Elio” spotlights the story of an underdog character of the same name who suddenly finds himself transported into the Communiverse, a world encompassed by out-of-this-world, extraterrestrial characters. Upon arrival, Elio is mistakenly identified as Earth’s ambassador, a role in which he’s not quite ready to take on. “For centuries, people have called out to the universe looking for answers — in Disney and Pixar’s all-new movie ‘Elio,’ the universe calls back! Elio must form new bonds with eccentric alien lifeforms, survive a series of formidable trials and somehow discover who he is truly meant to be,” reads the film’s official logline.

Karen Idelson While debates about the use of A.I. take center stage across the entertainment industry, the technology has been quietly assisting animation and visual effects crews for years. It had made some of the most astonishing visual images possible when artisans have been asked to do what was previously thought impossible. When helmer Peter Sohn wanted characters based on the elements of fire, water, air and earth for his new film “Elemental,” VFX supervisor Sanjay Bakshi and his team at Pixar looked to A.I. to make the process smoother. The look of the characters depended on adjustments that would align them with Sohn’s vision. “We used A.I. for a very specific kind of problem, and we used a machine learning algorithm called neural style transfer,” says Bakshi. “Our animation is so highly scrutinized. We go through so many review cycles for every shot and the animators are really handcrafting it and there’s not a lot of places where machine learning is applicable in the current form.