Toot toot.

Elemental — 3/5

It feels like the perfect mixture of low-art Pixar (Cars) and high-art Pixar (the other things). It's got substance, it's got layers; it's got so much fucking wordplay. It's that 'Cars' feeling of 'every word that has meaning to you in one context now has uber-meaning to them because it's their entire world.' It's entertaining, with a tiresome quality. There's an over-"isn't that cute?' to it, an over-"look at me, aren't I clever?" to it. The feelings feel like nothing more than double entendres. The metaphors feel like puns. And then it just layers too many things on top of it. Xenophobia, foreigners who feel out of place, the sacrifice required to build a better life, a star-crossed love story, lower-class/upper-class dynamics, a citywide disaster, and a dream to do something other than what her father wants from her. (The last of which kind of breaks me, honestly, because the first half of the movie is her insisting that she wants it. It does not feel like she is being untrue to herself until love forces some idea of special-ness on her.) It's not confident enough in itself to be a smaller movie. But it's fun! It's shallow, but fun. It's simplistic, but fun. It's cute; it just doesn't know how to dial down the cuteness. It does not choose its words wisely.