Elemental

I missed seeing Elemental on the big screen. I assumed it had gone straight to Disney + like the other recent Disney films, and I now kick myself for missing it. It would have been incredible. I first watched it on the plane to Ireland. I enjoyed it. I even found myself thinking about it several times during the following days (as my brain slowly processed how much I liked it-the same thing happened with Coco, to a greater extent). On the flight back home a month later, there weren't many movies to choose from. Elemental was one of them, so I watched it again. Although I think I would have watched it again anyway.

I rarely get excited about fictional romances. They so rarely feel real. But I felt this one. You can clearly see every time Ember and Wade find something amazing about each other. I think this movie has claimed the title of my favorite romance.

Both wade and Ember have incredible animation. I love how, well, fluid Ember moves. And Wade is so squishy. No, that's not the right word. Sloshy? Wiggly? Wobbly? Well, he's like jello.The water people have awesome hair. And Wade leaves wet footprints wherever he goes. Each footstep is a little sploosh. 

Spoilers, by the way.

Ember and her family are great. It looks like her parents paved the way for all of Fire Town. Ember's not the only fire person to visit Element City - as she's chasing Wade, I noticed another pair of fire people walking the street. Interestingly, it's only fire people that make a fuss about Ember and Wade being together. 

Dude, that city crew that refused to fix the doors was responsible for destroying Fire Town. It was their job, not Ember's, and they could have gotten so many people killed!

Between Ember and Wade, it looks like Ember is actually the first to really admire the other. But being Ember, she never would have acted on it. In the stadium, when she sees how Wade can unite everyone, she's amazed.

Wade did notice Ember's glow before that, which certainly got his attention. And being compassionate as Wade is, he couldn't not help her (Even though Ember had been hunting him across the city, and threatening him with a wall of fire). By the time they get to the stadium, Wade has gone way out of his way to help Ember, even though she has done absolutely nothing to endear herself to him. Wade looks surprised that she wants one of his tickets, but he doesn't seem to mind giving her one. He's happy showing her around the stadium, and even buys her a hat (RIP hat). Wade's first real "wow" moment about Ember is with the hot air balloon. 

When Ember takes Clod's first flower, she seems satisfied to see it burn to a crisp. But the second time, she's thinking about compatibility between different kinds of people. She doesn't want to burn that flower, but it burns anyway. Ouch.

I watched some behind-the-scenes videos. They said that Wade is a beast to animate. He has to be transparent, but not too transparent. Shiny, but not too shiny. Plus he has no bones, which animation programs are built around. One of the animators did a little demonstration of sketching Wade. I had to draw him too. It didn't look that hard. He doesn't even have a definite shape - he can be almost any shape. But they were right. Wade is a beast to draw. I don't even understand why he was that difficult for me to get right! 

I freaking love Wade. Wade is sincere, genuine, compassionate, smart, determined, patient and a good listener. And he's full of wisdom too! He's quick to fix mistakes, even if he's the one that caused them. He's made it into my top favorite characters. Tentatively #3, after Hector and Garnet (but ahead of Scarlemagne and Kenshin). 

Yeah, the rest of this will be me gushing about how great Wade is. 

One of my favorite scenes is only about ten seconds long. Wade told Ember that he'd meet her at the theater. She said she wouldn't come, so he's waiting with a very nervous look on his face. When he sees her he starts crying. But seeing Ember's reaction, he wipes his face, spends a second to psych himself up, and then gallantly invites her into the theater. But the moment her back is turned, he does a little happy dance. 

Gold, man. 

Poor Wade gets so much abuse. Ember shoves things into his face to try to stop him from talking. Her dad makes him eat explosively hot food (when he's outside the shop at the end of that scene, he's still nursing his tummy). Ember accidentally slams his arm in a door. She drops a sand bag on him (don't expect someone to catch a freaking sand bag!). She nearly drops part of the hot air balloon on him. He's threatened with a poker. And everyone laughs  about his childhood trauma! 

When Ember has dinner with Wade's family, Wade's uncle unknowingly drops that insulting line: "you speak the language so well." Ember takes it in stride, which seems to indicate that she's been through a lot of that kind of thing. But the look on Wade's face! You can tell he wants to get pissed at his uncle, but it's against his nature (I have gotten pissed at a certain part of my family that does the same kind of thing-Wade has better self control than me). At least the uncle realizes that he screwed up. 

When Wade is truly hurt, he doesn't cry. When Ember dumps him in front of the crowd of fire people (then she gets public chame in front of them too). And when he's about to die. And we only see him get really angry once, and it's on someone else's behalf, not for himself.

"I was hoping to make a more heroic entrance." That makes me laugh my head off. He does arrive at the hour of need, like a knight. Only to squish himself through a little hole and smash into a pile of goo on the floor. The most heroic, and least heroic entrance possible,  all at once. 

At the end of the movie, when Wade pulls himself out of that cauldron, he covers himself since he's not wearing anything. Except by that point, there has already been a a couple times where he wasn't wearing anything. 

Yep. Wade. The freaking best!