As it stands, the last truly great Pixar movie was 2015’s “Inside Out.” The last very good one was 2017’s “Coco.”
I was reminded of this drought while watching the newly released trailer for Pixar’s latest feature, this one titled “Elemental.” It looks promising, on paper, at least, but still left me wondering if Pixar has lost a bit of its edge.
Their dive into the business of sequels has watered down their brand. It’s fine, we all expected that to happen at some point. Here’s an official synopsis for “Elemental”, courtesy of Pixar:
The story introduces Ember, a tough, quick-witted and fiery young woman, whose friendship with a fun, sappy, go-with-the-flow guy named Wade challenges her beliefs about the world they live in.
“Elemental” is set to be Pixar’s 27th feature. It will be released in theaters on June 16th, 2023.
Pixar had a streak of great films for around 10 or so years in the aughts and early 2010s — every movie they released was either very good or a flat-out masterpiece. They took the kind of major artistic risks that have now been missing in their output these last 7 or 8 years .
Think of the radical, dialogue-free first act of “WALL-E,” the touching 10-minute life story of Carl and Ellie in “Up!”, the terrifying final few minutes in “Toy Story 3,” Nemo's mom dying in the opening minutes of “Finding Nemo,” and Bing Bong's “sacrifice” in “Inside Out”. All incredibly risky narrative decisions.
There were also shades of brilliance in 2020’s “Soul,” an ambitious tackling of the meaning of life via the lens of a failed jazz musician. But that one felt like a slight retread of “Inside Out,” which is also the feeling I got watching the “Elemental” trailer.
These last few years, Pixar has either released disappointing sequels/spinoffs ("Incredibles 2,” “Finding Dory,” “Toy Story 4,” “Cars 3,” “Lightyear”) or slight narratives that don’t push the boundaries of animation (“Luca,” “Onward,” “The Good Dinosaur,” “Turning Red”).
Here’s hoping they have a comeback in store.
Edward Berger seems to have settled on what comes next. His Lance Armstrong biopic, starring Austin Butler, is now holding casting calls, with production eyed for January.