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, , 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, ) and personify it, even as a talking blob of sorts, building out a representational world that nonetheless feels familiar. In , beings representing the four classical elements (earth, fire, water, and air) live in a bustling city, work humanlike jobs, and have humanlike relationships.
