Ty (and His Kids) Watches "Elemental"
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Over the weekend my daughter had a sleepover and we took her and her friend to see "Elemental". My wife and son joined us as well. Let’s discuss.
All in all I thought the movie was a decent allegory to the life of an immigrant. The writer of the movie pretty much said that was the story of his folks coming to America. I really liked the animation. The fire looked very cool. I loved how the water could shape into whatever form it needed. The forest people were very neat. It was a very well done, straight down the middle fastball from Pixar. There was some stuff I would have liked to see a bit more of, like the forest people, or get a more in depth view of the city they built, but nonetheless, it was a well made movie. I enjoyed it. But what I want to do today, for a longer review of this movie, is get my kids, one 11, a boy, and the other 7, a girl, to tell me what they thought and I will transcribe it as best I can from a kids point of view.
I'll start with my son.
I gave him the simple task of giving me a few sentences on what he liked and disliked about the movie. He isn't much for words if it isn't involving sports, so let's see where this takes us. First off he told me that he thinks kids will enjoy this movie much more than adults. I pushed and asked why. He told me that the story is much more geared towards kids. I kind of disagree though. I think the whole idea of immigration knows no age or class or society types. But this is his opinion. He said the characters are good. I pushed some more. He said they acted like adults, like it wasn't kids trying to take over business and continue the family legacy. He thought that was the best way to represent his idea of what this movie was supposed to be about. Finally he said, the ending was good. This will be spoiler free. He liked that it ended a movie he liked very well. He enjoyed what they did with the characters. He liked the way the story concluded. That I fully agree with.
Now for my daughter.
I gave her the same task, two or three sentences about the movie. She said she liked it a decent amount. It isn't the best she's seen, but not the worst either. She said it was a funny movie. She thought the water guy, when he squeezed himself out of a drain, looked all muscular, but that was wrong. He looked like a regular guy when he was back to his normal self. I agree that was a very funny part. I know I laughed. She did not like the sad parts of the movie. This is a typical thing in Pixar movies. They do stuff that really pulls at the heartstrings. I think they do this for adults, but kids are intuitive and my daughter picked up on that quickly. She did not cry, neither did her friend or my son, but my wife cried and I got choked up. I get they kind of have to do this, but it doesn't make it any less sad. She did however find it funny that the water family was always crying. This was another solid joke in the movie. The water people always had water flowing everywhere, and the eyes were a prime area for the animators. It was a well done joke throughout, and it worked with the sad parts too. T
hat is what my kids thought, in a very short, general way. I think it is good to get perspective from the age these movies are really trying to win over. I don't know that I will watch this movie again, I did enjoy it, but I bet my kids will watch it again, especially my 7 year old. I think this is a movie she will dig for a long while. We might just have to fast forward the sad parts. I'm cool with that.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.
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