Pixar’s Talking Blobs Are Becoming More and More Unsatisfying

The fantastical world of Elemental masks a lack of imagination from the once-inventive studio.

On paper, Pixar’s new film, Elemental, seems like the kind of wildly inventive, visually dynamic project that has made the company such a consistent success in the animation world. The studio’s formula is clear enough: Take an inanimate, perhaps abstract thing (a toy, a car, a feeling, a human soul) and personify it, even as a talking blob of sorts, building out a representational world that nonetheless feels familiar. In Elemental, beings representing the four classical elements (earth, fire, water, and air) live in a bustling city, work humanlike jobs, and have humanlike relationships. The premise quickly expands to a recognizable metaphor of prejudice, with fire people—talking pillars of flame that struggle not to set things on fire—functioning as an oppressed underclass who strive to fit in with the other elements.

So why did Elemental just post the second-worst opening weekend in the company’s history? There are plenty of external forces to point to—reviews were tepid, and audiences have possibly grown used to waiting for Pixar movies to debut on Disney+ after that became standard practice during the pandemic (and ended with last year’s Lightyear). Still, the highest-grossing film of 2023 so far is an animated movie (Illumination’s Super Mario Bros.), indicating that families are now flocking back to theaters. And while there may be some Pixar fatigue after decades of success, all it would really take is one bona fide, critically acclaimed smash to start turning things around.

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