Elemental
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: June 16, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 45 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
23
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithJun 16, 2023
The pair’s growing fascination for each other is as unmistakable as the beauty of their surroundings, and so a film about inanimate elements turns out to be a delightfully human love story. Read full review
90
The New York TimesAmy NicholsonJun 15, 2023
The staggering design ambition balances out the plot’s affecting, relatable ordinariness. Read full review
80
CNNBrian LowryJun 15, 2023
Elemental doesn’t quite join the studio’s hallowed top tier, but it does yield moments of magic and beauty – reflecting both the immigrant experience as well as the power of love – worthy of that legacy. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicKaely MonahanJun 14, 2023
On the surface, the story might feel rote. But Pixar’s crew has returned to what it does best: Exposing the deepest feelings of the heart under the guise of everyday emotions. Ember and Wade’s relationship is both "Romeo and Juliet," but also the story of many immigrant families. Read full review
79
The Film VerdictAlonso DuraldeJun 16, 2023
Visual delights, a sweet love story, and that potent Pixar sentimentality carry this animated feature past a periodic table's worth of script flaws. Read full review
75
The Daily BeastAllegra FrankJun 15, 2023
Although it doesn’t come close to reaching Nemo’s heights (very few films, animated or otherwise, can), Elemental neither needs nor tries to, mostly to its own benefit. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 14, 2023
Although the film provides material for adult viewers to chew on, it is not as deep or thoughtful as some of the Pixar classics. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshJun 14, 2023
She’s spunky and hot-headed, he’s sweet and adorable — if they touch, it could be a disaster, but somehow, their chemistry just works, bringing the charming “Elemental” to a lively roiling boil. Read full review
75
TheWrapBen CrollMay 27, 2023
With story beats and character turns that strain well beyond familiarity, Elemental matches formal adventure with storytelling timidity. Here is a new spin on the old formula, livened up by advances in technology and delivered with real artistry. The film is full of complex and volatile parts, all held together in the most elemental of containers. Read full review
75
IndieWireSiddhant AdlakhaMay 27, 2023
Despite its confused and overstuffed worldbuilding, “Elemental” has enough charming moments to get by, even if its meaning lies less in its ill-conceived immigrant saga, and more in the personal drama that lives a few layers beneath it. Read full review
74
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzJun 13, 2023
Heartfelt in tone, imaginative in scope and rendered with a seemingly endless well of aesthetic wit, the romantic-comedy is a worthy addition to the Pixar canon … until the characters start speaking. Read full review
70
Paste MagazineJason GorberMay 30, 2023
Elemental may not rise to the heights that Up soared to, but the ingredients of Elemental combine in ways that are both satisfying and even moving. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleAlejandra MartinezJun 15, 2023
Elemental is thoughtful, visually interesting, and emotionally compelling, even if it doesn’t all gel together all the time. When the clunky story falters, the vision and dedicated vocal performances of the cast carry it through, and give Elemental real heart. Read full review
65
Film ThreatAlan NgJun 16, 2023
The gags are a series of really lame dad jokes, and it’s missing the awe and wonder that will delight children and adults. Read full review
63
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiJun 15, 2023
The love story is nice, but Ember and Wade’s relationship also goes from zero to 60 awfully fast. There have been many a romance told inside of two hours, but these guys’ instant gushiness is awkward and doesn’t ring true — even for CGI blobs. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJun 14, 2023
Cute, kind of clever and oh, so topical. But also problematic. Read full review
63
USA TodayBrian TruittJun 14, 2023
The storytelling suffers from the weight of that ambition, though Elemental at least pulls off fun world-building a la “Zootopia” with a city where the residents – of fire, water, earth and air persuasions – reflect four different cultural groups and ethnicities and don’t always get along. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonJun 14, 2023
With its preachy, dull love story between a boy made of water and a girl on fire, Elemental should have been called “Guess Who’s Coming to Disney.” Read full review
63
The Associated PressJake CoyleJun 14, 2023
Opening on the heels of raging wildfires, Elemental manages to be a movie about fire and water without even a passing reference to today’s climate realities. Missed opportunities abound. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldJun 14, 2023
So why does Elemental feel so flat for much of its running time? Here’s why: It just isn’t very funny. The best Pixar movies blend humor with pathos; having just half of the formula leaves us with just half of the impact. Read full review
63
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenJun 11, 2023
The unsung hero behind the best Pixar films is the story—the nuanced, inventive, resonant-for-all-ages narrative that provides a foundation for the indelible characters and dazzling animation. Elemental feels like a Pixar first draft, in story terms. Read full review
60
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyJul 17, 2023
Elemental overcomplicates itself. It’s a straightforward romcom that’s also about culture clashes. And the systemic racism in city infrastructures. And the expectations immigrant parents place on their children. Read full review
60
EmpireSophie ButcherJul 5, 2023
Pixar’s first out-and-out love story, Elemental is overstuffed and inconsistent — but packed with enough moving sentiment, gorgeous design and punchy voice performances to mean it still burns bright. Read full review
60
Time OutPhil de SemlyenJul 3, 2023
The sheer ambition is still there, but the storytelling rigour – Lasseter’s great forte – is again missing in Elemental, the studio’s latest big-screen offering. Read full review
60
IGNJordan HoffmanJun 16, 2023
Visually, Pixar is in absolutely top form with the creation of Element City and its inhabitants. Unfortunately, the story is way too thin and none of it makes any sense. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMay 28, 2023
It’s the Pixar film that has to remind its audience what a Pixar film is. Read full review
60
VarietyPeter DebrugeMay 27, 2023
There’s poetry and soul here, but both are watered down by how much the movie seems to be multitasking. With Pixar, sincerity is elemental. The rest risks distracting from what really matters. Read full review
60
Total FilmJames MottramMay 27, 2023
A sweet-natured love story, well-intentioned, animated and acted, but lacking the depth of some of the studio’s greatest triumphs. Read full review
58
Original-CinJim SlotekJun 14, 2023
As an artistic design challenge, Elemental has triumphant moments (which may be good enough eye candy to keep kids occupied). But as a story, it doesn’t appear to aspire to much beyond a standard star-crossed romance. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubManuel BetancourtJun 13, 2023
Its world building is so vast and so intricate (the city has a Wetro and you can watch films like Tide And Prejudice!) that it overshadows the textured plot about the burdens placed on second-generation kids. Read full review
58
ColliderTherese LacsonMay 31, 2023
Narratives about identity are important, but Elemental lacks the delicate nuance needed to tell these stories. Read full review
50
Little White LiesHannah StrongJul 7, 2023
While Pixar films have included romance before, there has never been an explicit rom-com made by the studio, and Sohn’s ambition is admirable here, as he attempts to bring new ideas to Pixar amid the glut of sequels and prequels the studio has favoured lately. Read full review
50
ScreenCrushMatt SingerJun 16, 2023
The stronger element (sorry) of this story is the relationship between Bernie and Ember, and how it underscores the way the expectations of every generation winds up resting heavily on the shoulders of the next. I’m not sure using different elements as a metaphor for the immigrant experience quite works beyond its broadest strokes, but it does at least add some heft to Elemental’s scenes between father and daughter, which do build to an affecting if extremely predictable conclusion. Read full review
50
VoxAlissa WilkinsonJun 16, 2023
Elemental isn’t a full failure. It’s an original story, for one, and coming from Disney, that’s no small thing. The best thing about Elemental — and, since movies are a primarily visual medium, it’s a very good thing indeed — is that it looks incredible. Read full review
50
ObserverOliver JonesJun 15, 2023
Pixar’s Elemental is a movie about failing infrastructure, though that may make it sound more interesting than it actually is. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineDan RubinsJun 15, 2023
Elemental does a whole lot of huffing and puffing but, at its core, feels no more grounded than a gentle wisp of air. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJun 13, 2023
In Elemental, we have a visually splendid and absolutely gorgeous rendering of a half-baked idea. For some of its running time, it can get by on looks. But ultimately, things like story and making sense start to matter, and that’s when the movie takes on water. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comIsaac Feldberg May 30, 2023
Perhaps fittingly for a film that would have more accurately been titled “When Fire Met Water…,” Elemental is combustible enough from minute to minute, but it evaporates from memory the second you leave the theater. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonMay 27, 2023
Elemental contains hints of the studio’s wit and poignancy while lacking the inspired execution that once seemed so effortless. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerMay 27, 2023
Had Pixar perhaps taken more risks with that plotline, they might have pleased a smaller demographic than such a project requires to be profitable, but they might also have delivered a movie on par with some of their best work. Instead, the elements all fit perfectly into place — so much so that water eventually puts out fire, and we’re left without much of an impression. Read full review
40
The AtlanticDavid SimsJun 22, 2023
Although Elemental has moments of imaginative joy—watching a living cloud talk to an aquatic being, for one—the viewer is mostly subjected to a very mundane, clichéd domestic dramedy, not the kind of tale that can truly transport younger audiences. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreJun 15, 2023
While Sohn has said Elemental was inspired by his parents, his upbringing in multicultural New York City, and his own mixed marriage, the lack of deeper consideration his film gives to its ideas leads to some ugly reductiveness. Read full review
40
SlateDan KoisJun 14, 2023
The problem with Elemental is that it is, in every way, the epitome of a Pixar film, except that it isn’t any good. Read full review
40
Rolling StoneDavid FearJun 14, 2023
The fact that Elemental can’t seem to get past its own elevator-pitch premise or avoid tripping over its teachable lessons, much less wring laughs and sobs from an opposites-attract love story, is a bit of a shock. It’s so busy trying to pen an op-ed that it forgets to give it a narrative structure and make it emotionally resonate. That’s just elementary. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 9, 2023
Pixar is as entitled to a swing and a miss as any studio. But the lovely-looking miscalculation that is Elemental stands out on the CGI animation house’s resume as a rare swing-and-almost-completely-miss. Read full review
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