Fire, water spark an animated romance

 

   In a time of multiverses and multiplying identities, it's hardly surprising that Pixar has jumped into a world in which characters must learn to confront their prejudices.

   Elemental, Pixar's latest animated feature, offers a story about lovers who, on the surface, don't seem made for each other.

   Under the guidance of director Peter Sohn, Pixar serves Elemental's major hunk of symbolism with a heavy hand, creating an obstacle-strewn romance between (ready for this?) fire and water.

    Fire appears in the form of Ember Lumen (Leah Lewis), a flaming orange creature who's about to inherit a store operated by her father (Ronnie Del Carmen) and her mother (Shila Ommi). 

   The Lumen family are immigrants in Element City, a whimsically realized urban center divided into neighborhoods occupied by creatures inspired by four elements: earth, air, water, and fire. 

   Fire and water begin to mix when Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie),  a hunky bubble of a character, turns up in Firetown. Fire and water aren't compatible, which means the movie must work overtime to show that different ethnicities don't necessarily doom a developing romantic relationship between Amber and Wade.

    When Pop Lumen's store springs a water leak, Wade, a city inspector, offers to help Ember meet a deadline to set things straight; she has one week to correct the situation. 

   To further complicate the story, Amber, who's prone to incendiary bursts of temper, isn't eager to take over the family business. She has her own dreams.

   The animation is mostly fanciful. The voice work engages. Even a wobbly approach to a stream of ethnic/racial themes proves workable -- if not deeply explored.

    In a major set piece -- every animated movie needs one -- Amber visits an underwater garden from which she and other fire people previously had been banned. The movie thus leaps into additional trendy terrain: Systemic prejudice works against the fulfillment of individual dreams.

    Although it benefits from an eclectic musical score by Thomas Newman, Elemental may not rank among Pixar's best. Still, it's passable, particularly for younger audiences. Fire notwithstanding, the movie is more likely to tug the heart strings than leave audience suffering from heartburn. 

    Strained heat references on my part, but, hey, we’re talking the visually complex and thematically crammed world of Elemental.

    Maybe I'm too literal minded but the movie's central metaphor struck me as suspect. The next time something burns, I doubt that love and acceptance will leap to mind. I'll be calling for the firehoses.

No classic but 'Lightyear' proves likable

 The Pixar universe keeps expanding. Based on a character developed in 1995's Toy Story, Lightyear begins by telling us that young Andy (remember him?) received a Buzz Lightyear action figure after seeing the movie that we're about to watch. Andy loved the that movie.

  Me? I’d say it’s more “like” than “love.”

  I guess that suggests a touch of disappointment. The expectations for Pixar movies remains high and the Toy Story franchise has endeared itself to both parents and children. 

  But, hey, “like” isn’t nothing.

  The movie finds Buzz (voice by Chris Evans) as full of himself as ever. He and his fellow Space Rangers have traveled to a distant planet where a mistake by Buzz strands his fellow voyagers, some of whom were hibernating on Buzz's ship. 

  A chastened Buzz must then wrestle with an epic-sized helping of guilt. Buzz, after all, isn't supposed to fail.

  Buzz's hoped-for redemption involves being able to fly at hyper-speed, which -- should he accomplish the task-- will enable him to save those he stranded on a forbidding planet which hosts lethal insects and vines that latch onto human prey. 

   Buzz keeps trying but each time he returns to base, everyone else but him has aged. He's gone for four minutes but those who remained behind have aged four years.

   This includes Buzz's buddy Capt. Alisha Hawthorne (Uzo Aduba), a Space Ranger who marries a woman and becomes the matriarch of a couple of generations of space dwellers. Lesbianism is handled simply: It exists. No big deal.

   Eventually, Hawthorne's granddaughter Izzy (Keke Palmer) will form a ragtag crew with Darby Steel (Dale Soules), a felon with experience in explosives, and Mo Morrison (Taika Waititi), another in the movie's group of unlikely heroes.

    Evans, by the way, takes over for Tim Allen who did the Buzz voice work in previous Toy Story movies.

    Despite its sci-fi trappings, Lightyear isn't Pixar's most adventurous effort even though Buzz isn't a toy in this movie. He's a character in a futuristic adventure that gives him a robot companion, a cat named SOX (Peter Sohn). 

   Gifted with great computational powers, SOX proves a better problem solver than Buzz, who prides himself on finding solutions when the going gets tough.

   Eventually, Buzz learns to trust his new pals but not not before confronting Zurg (Josh Brolin), an emperor who  may remind you of evil imperial space characters from other movies.

   Director Angus MacLane (Finding Dory) may not have reached the stars with this one but Lightyear‘s animation upholds Pixar's standards of quality while telling a story that keeps us involved.