WATCH MORE - Elemental wasn't the only film that got lost in the Barbenheimer craze. What went wrong with Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning? Here's our TAKE: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-L958yGseinY.html
To me, this movie perfectly blended its immigrant story and its romance, and the fact that they supplement each other so well is why this movie work so well for me 😁
I think it's important to note how the Asian Pacific and specifically the South Korean markets helped make the movie a success. When word got out that it was a huge success in Asia I saw a lot more people realizing that Elemental wasn't just "Romeo and Juliet with fire and water" and had an important story to tell about the Asian American struggle and inter-racial relationships
yes yes! when I went to Korea our friend told us how popular it was and what a good film it was, and plenty of Korean celebrities have also been recommending it
Will say that as a Korean American family, my sis and I had very different reactions to the film, primarily because we BOTH felt that the cultural clash wasn't treated with realistic nuance, since Wade's position on her relationship with her father is treated as 100% correct, when it's never really that simple for us. I was still touched by the way he makes her reevaluate her false internalized narratives about her relationships without forcing her to lose her traditional customs, while my sister felt deep disgust at this idea that the "perfect match" for a responsible, but hot tempered immigrant child is this majority-privilege softboi who can't take spicy food and never apologizes for crashing a major family and community event. We agreed it was beautiful, and I personally thought it was largely a good film, but speaking from the immigrant experience, it didn't feel to either of us like it lived up to its potential in showing cultural clash with nuance.
@@SpiderLingual thank you for leaving this comment, bc it was very interesting to read and I feel like learned something. I love learning about how other people feel, I hope you and your sister are doing well :)
Social media like Tiktok really did help it gain traction. Movie wasn't bad at all, but the script was definitely underwhelming compared to other Pixar films. Even just Disney Zootopia had a more interesting story.
Honestly, yeah. I don't really recall the promotion for this. Same thing with Teenage Kraken. I'm pretty sure it was because both studios were busy with other things and the films didn't get much attention.
@@katherinealvarez9216Another thing is that compared to _Elemental’s_ marketing, _Ruby Gillman’s_ marketing revealed/spoiled the entirety of the film and the villain (Chelsea) was so "on the nose", along with the fact Ruby Gillman was suddenly announced 3 months before release.
I love that they inverted gender stereotypes by showing an emotional man who cries readily and isn't ashamed of it, and a fiery hot tempered woman who is loved for exactly who she is and learns to embrace her anger
her agressive side was more a problem than her strong point. her anger always caused problems and she never realy embraced her anger either but learned to control it. her strong side was always her creativity. most of the time that was in her glass making skills but also when she made a baloon on the spot to get a better view of the city with wade. but every time her anger came out, something went wrong
To me, the most noteworthy aspect of the early discourse around the film's "failure" was that the ONLY problem with the movie that critics were able to name was that it somehow wasn't up to the Pixar standard, but they couldn't articulate WHY or what that even meant. Like, they couldn't point to an issue with the plotting or themes or characters, just that it somehow wasn't registering according to their high critical expertise. To me, that speaks to the larger critical body having some investment in the conversation around "Elemental" outside of assessing its quality. You mention that critics remain an important part of the film ecosystem, but it bears mentioning that the current composition of film critics has some glaring biases in their dialogue, among them a sort of elitism that penalizes animated films. Anyways, another thing I take away from the "Elemental" resurrection is that "Onward" would have experienced a similar long-term box office revival if it hadn't landed literally the week before a global shutdown.
A lot has to do with cultural background as well. People from asia, a lot of the countries here are more familial in nature. A lot don't really have a choice most of the time and have to really live up to expectations. Reason i like this film wasn't really about the woke stuff and the struggles of being a immigrant, true it happens and I've seen my relatives that immigrated struggle with it. I feel like the movie is a lot more specific to couples struggling to understand each-other. Wade is a good example of how to be emphatic and truly listen to their partner. Although it might be surface level at first glance, but because the level of relationship shown in the movie is at the most basic one which is we're supposed to lift our partner, be their guide, have their back, understand them, and most of all know that their anger not all the times have shallow roots (well assuming the partner is not toxic and is actually a proper person that truly cares but struggled with stuff due to trauma).
Um...two incorrect statements. First, Encanto was Disney Animated Studios, not Pixar, which is an entirely separate animation studio. Second, Elemental was released an entire month before Barbenheimer, so it was not affected by that phenomenon at all.
The silliest thing about this is that they started calling it a flop before it'd even been released everywhere. Like, when they first called it a flop it'd yet to be released in the UK and Japan... bit premature don't you think?
Who was calling it a flop?? Was it reviewers, like what did miss?? I genuinely thought it was released maybe a month ago, the marketing was so bad...like I loved the movie after watching it but good lord they dropped the ball on marketing imo
The amount of times I've heard "The film isn't perfect" kills me. There is no such thing as perfection in art except through the eyes of beholders. No story is perfect, there will always be weak spots, plot holes and things that aren't perfect 1:1 metaphors, but this movie has so much more heart than other Pixar movies as of late(not including Encanto which was simply a Disney animated film, not a Pixar film)
I'm not gonna lie. I loooved the movie. Probably my favorite after Incredibles 1 and 2!! Wade and Ember had great chemistry, and the animation was absolutely gorgeous. I'm kinda surprised they barely marketed the film, i think it was pretty dang good
Clarification mention: Lumping in Encanto with mentions of recent releases doesnt count, as its Pure Disney, not Pixar itself . And while its the same Overarching house, its not the same rules and creative direction, so it is not a valid comparative point on an apples to applies example , in how its used. I would think that the writers and minds behind the Take would know and avoided or caught this (usually pretty accurate here ).
@@zachryder3150 that's valid from the perspective of enjoy a story or movie or not. Which is not the point made above - where essay and review have a standard of accuracy to consider. Thanks for the 2 cents though :)
Two things (and I know someone already pointed these out, but they bear repeating until we hear someone from The Take admit these mistakes)... 1. Encanto is not a Pixar film, it's a Walt Disney Animations film... 2. Elemental was released over a month before Barbie and Oppenheimer were (same weekend as The Flash in fact), so by the time Barbenheimer emerged, Elemental was already quite deep into its comeback (it even hung around fifth place the weekend of Barbenheimer which, given it had already been out for a month, was impressive)...
I think it also represents the aspects of ourselves that we need to heal, internally and in our relationships, and how to have them work with each other and not against them. Water is emotions and getting swept up in them, fire is the relationship with our temper and our passion, and when you cut off your temper you cut off your passion. I'm so glad word of mouth caught on! Thank you for all of your hard work on these videos, always enjoy them
I saw this film the same day as Barbie (with a 9 year old girl I was looking after for the day), and this was the one with the well-earned emotional gut punch. It wasn't the romance, which everyone knew would turn out well, it was the story with her family that had me reaching for the tissues.
Elemental proved People shouldn’t dismiss movies as flops based on original reception and that we should wait and give them time to grow also there’s more than one way to factor success outside of box office there’s dvd sales there’s merch sales there’s streaming numbers also views from tv reruns so box office should start factoring in the other stuff otherwise it’ll become outdated and archaic. A lot of times those other avenues can carry the slack of a lacking box office. Encanto,soul,luca, and turning red and proof of this Again about my point about box office being outdated and how there’s more than one factor to a movie’s success in the age of the internet and social media there’s dvd sales there’s merch sales there’s streaming numbers also views from tv reruns so box office should start factoring in the other stuff otherwise it’ll become outdated and archaic. A lot of times those other avenues can carry the slack of a lacking box office. Encanto,soul,luca, and turning red and proof of this
I am tired of people discussing movies in terms of the box office only. I don´t know if it is because I was a child back then but recently I have noticed that movies I loved as a child like Bug´s life would be considered like failures by today´s standar and back then I don´t remember anyone caring about that. As a child I enjoyed that movie a hole lot, and is also a fun movie that is not too deep or impactful. That movie is also not considered one of Pixar´s best films but I feel like the creators just relaxed and made something fun. In the case of elemental I like that is more like an slice of life take, and I like that is based in the experience of one of the creators and animators. The movie is not too impactful or deep but it feels honest and transparent, also is fun and cute, and that is why I liked it.
When I saw the trailer I genuinely thought Elemental looked like a stupid movie. The marketing for it was really bad, it's as if Disney wanted it to be a failure! Now that I'm learning more about what the film is actually like I think it looks really cute I'm definitely gonna check it out.
I think this movie got to me as much as it did because I myself am a child of an immigrant. I really resonated with many scenes. I grew up hearing family members immigration stories, so some scenes I didn't relate to, I still empathized with due to what I grew up hearing my entire life. There were multiple scenes that made me teary eyed, which is rare for a movie to do. I liked that Fire was a mix of Asian, Middle Eastern and Arab cultural references. I like that they didn't just pick one, but made relatable for many cultures that way. I thought the animation was gorgeous! I'm glad I saw it on the big screen! The world building was well thought out! I'd love to see more of this world! The romance was very well done too! It was a great film for many reasons!
Disney's major shortcoming in recent years has been partly a lack of new ideas and poor marketing. When Pixar releases a movie like Elemental that finally feels like something unique and new, they market it poorly. I was interested enough to see the film and think it is one of the best films I have seen. A lot because I like that it's not just a pure love story but also revolves around Ember's relationship with her father. If they had marketed it better, I think the interest would have been greater and the film might have done even better in cinemas. Now it managed to pick up quite well anyway thanks to us spreading information on the internet. Love Elemental.
It's a beautiful touching relatable story with no evil villain, a slice of life experience, familial love & a happy fucking ending! The world needs such positivity every once in a while..
These movie companies have to figure out how to get families back into the theatres. In America many families are choosing to wait till a movie hits streaming to watch family movies. They gave away movies like turning red and soul for free that it’s more appealing for families to watch these movies in their own homes. Barbie and Oppenheimer appealed to adults and many saw it as a date night movie.
Yeah, people our age are now expecting Pixar to keep make movies for us too but they've always made movies primarily for kids and families. Although I do get the sense that they've been making stuff more for kids these days.
0:32-0:37 is the problem with reviews from most pop culture today (even if it's a spoiler review). I don't think the movie ever under-performed. I think, like a lot of times, reviewers jumped the gun without giving too much thought to what they had watched. It's part of why official overal opinions don't matter until decades later. And even then it's never clearly the overall opinion, which to me is the point.
I know this was mostly about being in an immigrant family, but it also (for me) modelled the social model of disability, where you could see how life was much harder to be a fire element when living in a city built for all of these other elements, and Ember had to work much harder to just exist in those spaces. It made me think of being neurodiverse in a space designed for neurotypicals.
You've got people hating on the movie moving the goalpost on how it was "barely" profitable thus still a flop in their eyes. Those cynics I tell you, just let us be happy that the film did well in the end.
As much as I love pixar movies not every movie they make has to be deep what if they feel like making something that’s just cute I don’t see any issue with that People should let creators create what they want
@@damonlam9145 very understandable and you're right, but ig we just hope the Pixar people know since they're basically known for only making masterpieces. It's ok to create a simple, fun story about love etc every now and then :)
I think this film, like many others in these last few years, is a victim from what i called, "Culture war seekers", especially when a movie, stream show or music, video games or any art interpretation, does not confirm to what they think is normal, regardless of it's quality, they will try to bash it, condemn it, blaming their creators for "attacking their own fans", all only for seeking more clicks... On my own perspective, Pixar's art design choices in it's animation is starting to feel old, specially with the new styles coming up, like the Spider-verse films, Love Death + Robots or Arcane, but a good basic story is still there, and those CW seekers will try to blame not so great box-office performance in "Hollywood liberal indoctrination" or what ever they think it's current... I do believe this film looks a lot like Zootopia, a 7 year old Disney film...
I think the pandemic and lack of marketing really crippled that movie. The animation was gorgeous and the message really spoke to a LOT of people, I think it would have done so much better if it was released in another year. I just hope it is remembered for being as great as it was tbh
I couldn't go to the movies coz I am a new mom so I just waited for the release for TV. First day, husband and I were watching at 11pm and I cried like a baby on the idea of losing the love of my life, my husband would have been the one who got away hadn't I married him ... Resonated a lot coz my parents are immigrants who came years ago, language barrier and the like. Then also I'm a hot tempered woman, so this was like a breeze of fresh air. The line of 'go back to fire city' hit me so bad, this movie was so relatable, it would have been weird if it flopped...
I’ve already watched Elemental 5 times since first watching it this week. I’ve seen Barbie-it was fun and had a message, but I doubt I’ll watch it again unless someone else wanted to.
Pretty solid video, but you tend to use Disney and Pixar interchangeably. Pixar did not work on the live-action Little Mermaid or Encanto. Both of those were purely Disney. Pixar is it’s own studio like Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios. Disney’s input as the parent company has to do with the marketing strategy and the release strategy (which hurt Luca, Soul, and Turning Red).
As a non inmigrant latina living in Latinoamerica, I related to the beautiful relationship of Ember and her father, I have a picture of kid me and my dad in his grocery shop 😊
I remember seeing the trailer, it just felt like a buddy comedy a la Toy Story (She’s fire, he’s water! Can they get along?) Disney really needs to find a better PR company for movies. I was really pleasantly surprised by Elemental
I had NO plans of watching this movie based on the trailers. It looked like a remake of Zootopia. But my sister convinced me to watch it, and it was BEAUTIFUL!! It made me cry!! I’d say it was another Pixar hit!! I cannot believe how dirty Disney did the Elemental team in the way they marketed this movie. In fact, I’m not even convinced it was a coincidence. It has the same stink as when Disney purposefully released Treasure Planet at the same time as Lilo and Stitch, and sabotaged the marketing and roll out of Treasure Planet because they wanted Lilo and Stitch to do better. Shame on them. i’m glad people saw this movie for what it was, despite their awful marketing.
Never heard of this movie until some youtuber mentioned it. I watched it, and at first found it to be a bit of a boring rehash of Zootopia and Turning Red. Like, we had that huge world-building experience of Zootopia, plus Asian-American cultural clashes and generational problems in Turning Red, so why would we need this movie? But it's a really good movie, with a really good message. The story is fantastic. Had they made the universe-building a little differently, it would have felt fresh and original from the start. That is, it WAS fresh and original, but it didn't feel that way.
I don’t remember seeing any advertisements outside of the poster, but when I started seeing the previews I got excited. Due to the negative reviews I decided to wait to watch it in Disney plus,I looked forward to seeing if it was going to be good or bad….i was not disappointed and now I can’t get enough
It’s important to remember to think for yourself and choose to experience things because you want to, not because of what ratings websites or news reports determine. I loved this movie and saw it on the eve of its opening. Cream always rises to the top.
People are putting way too much pressure on Pixar to deliver gods gift to movies every single time they release something. But that's just unfair and unreasonable to expect, yes most of the time Pixar hits the bullseye but sometimes they just get really close to it and that's ok to do. And then expecting it to make a billion dollars was just unrealistic considering all the abuse they got from Chapek along with Lightyear ending up mixed. Making for a situation where they have no momentum anymore and people were trained to expect Pixar movies exclusviely on disney plus. My best bet was 500 million dollars at the box office and it got really close to that, that'll help Elio out alot next year and hopefully Pixar can get things back on track. As for the movie itself I really loved it, the romance was well built up and both main charachters are really likeable. They even managed to make a liar revealed story not frustrating to watch and considering how easy it is to screw up that trope that's pretty impressive in my book.
I honestly, to my surprise, actually enjoyed watching this movie. While not perfect, it's still very fun to watch; and some scenes were emotional enough to touch me. The animation is unique, the story is good, the music is catchy, and the characters are fun. And the chemistry between Wade and Ember is pretty believable, because it does take its time to develop it - even if you can tell almost right away. And I suppose their personalities almost match their elements: Ember has trouble with her fiery temper, while Wade tends to be a sympathetic crier. To me, Wade and Ember have one of the most realistic relationships in any Disney movie, because while you can tell there is something between them, they still start off as good friends, and confirm their love near the end of the movie; thus becoming a real couple. They say opposites attract, and that's very true in their case - but they also have things in common. The moment when Ember met Wade's family was fun to watch because it showed how far society has come to accepting others; and yes, the game where Wade made Ember cry for the first time was very touching because it what sparked their true feeling for each other. It would have been nice to hear more about Wade's father; like what kind of man he was, what he did for a living, and what caused his relationship with Wade to drift away. It also would have been nice to see more of Clod, he definitely should of had a bigger role. I also wish they explained more of the crack in the dam - did it just get old, or was it caused by something? The part where Ember and Wade have an argument over their differences, that I also wish had a bit more attention put to it. I mean, Ember got her say on how she feels, but Wade never really explained his point of view. Maybe he could have told Ember that just because he comes from luxury, he never truly did what he wanted because of everything his father expected of him growing up - and his dying wish was for Wade to find his own path. Also, Wade could have told Ember that the reason his family has money is because of how much hard work they put into making a life for their families. Overall, I did enjoy the movie. And I actually thought that Wade died in the end - but it's Disney; they don't do that. And I'm actually glad they didn't. It would have been nice to see more of Ember and Wade's childhood. Maybe have them cross each other's paths multiple times (as they grew up), but never actually interacted. And the movie could have also explained why the are things fire can touch, while there are things that burst into flames. If there's ever a sequel...I'd watch it. Maybe it could be about Wade and Ember getting married and starting a family.
It was good, but it also kind of felt back to basics to a fault. Almost like they were following a Pixar formula a little too closely. Make a character out of something that's not sentient, put in some kind of metaphor, build to a scene that makes audiences cry at the end. Not bad by any means, but kind of like someone playing a song note perfectly but without much feeling. Still, I'm glad it did well and people liked it. Pixar really needed a hit after the last couple years, even though I think they've been struggling to meet the bar that they themselves raised in animation for a while now.
Yeah exactly, it was a fine movie. It was predictable but somewhat fun. I don't think it goes much deeper than that and the people saying it does are most likely projecting that because it's kind of a blank canvas as a movie.
I always give Pixar a chance because despite the fact that going against conventional wisdom has been their brand since Toy Story 2, some audiences haven’t learn that yet and keep going off of first impressions. Pixar doesn’t have a perfect record but they still have one of the best records around considering how long they’ve been making movies.
I'm a bit disappointed with your take on this one, because unlike many other videos of you, I didn't learn much, and it was statements I mostly could have done myself. Though, I *loved* the movie, it was so warm (no pun intended) and charming. It leaned deeply into feeling and expressing emotions (both positive and negative, strong ones and light ones) and not be afraid of it. I find this missing in most movies, and rare.
I do think that the film does continues to promote the US's and most of the west fetish of individualism But I also am not an Asian immigrant growing up in the equivalent of the US so I can't really speak to how they feel about the film
Ummm encanto was a Disney studio production. Pixar isn’t apart of this movie. Disney and everything under their umbrella have been underperforming because they have become to preachy , watered down, they don’t stick to cannon, and dampen certain characters in the name of “diversity”. Pixar got wrapped up in this production model and they suffered for it. Soul was their last good movie and it was mid.
Your video seems to confuse Pixar Animation Studios (Elemental) with Walt Disney Animation Studios (Encanto) and Walt Disney Pictures (The Little Mermaid). If doing a video essay and making broad statements about Pixar Animation in contrast with Disney and Disney live action (VFX animation) I would suggest rephrasing some of the comparisons.
The Pixar/Disney style just doesn't entice the same way anymore. It's amazing and perfectly what it wants to be but this style has been around for decades now. Next to Spider-verse, Puss In boots, even stuff like Bojack and Adventure Times, this just feels too over done.
Honestly this movie got too much hate but part the reason for that is how badly Disney first teased the movie. I personality loved the movie for the story, comedy and Ember and Wade's relationship
Movie looked very predictable from the trailers. Last Pixar movie that looked genuinely intriguing was Soul. I’ll definitely see it but not pay theatre ticket prices to do so.
Or it falls into the same trap that so many "two worlds" stories fall into, that different societies aren't just different, one is literally a threat to another and any one accident or thoughtless moment could see a death. It asks far more control, compassion, and constant vigiliance, often to the point of surpressing that culture in the first place, of one of the cultures for things to work out. Xmen, Zootopia, and now Elemental have all been criticized for this "Thinking about the ins and outs of this world". No they didn't. They have multiple jokes making fun of that, namely the fence gag, how absolutely fucking stupidly this world was clearly not thought out and how they didn't want to build a world with the setting, they just wanted a specific message without thinking through what that world would actually look like
you realize the world is intentionally flaw like our world where everyone can bypass the rules by simple loopholes in the logic of the world, plus it was made very clear at the beginning that the world wasn't made with all the element is harmony together in mind like our world which results in loopholes.
Did you actually watch the movie? Your comment reads as if you didn’t. One little cut away gag doesn’t equate to “they didn’t think about this world.” The world is incredibly well thought if you actually watch it and don’t go off of one gag from a trailer.
While Pixar isn’t 100% in the clear just yet, their future is starting to look more brighter, promising and interesting. I doubt they’ll will ever be the same as their glory days, but to say that they completely lost their footing is an understatement. Plus who know after all of their problems are sorted out we might get something even better.
The take never mentioned the nonbinary controversy of elemntal or the gender identity controversy over free world and light year possibly affectinf performance. And did it actually turn a profit after taking into account all costs including marketing?
They didn’t mention the controversy because it was stupid. A character with an lgbt pin was on screen for three seconds. Anyone that gets that triggered over meaningless shit shouldn’t be taken seriously.
certain websites with a combined far larger viewership than "The Take" mentioned it prominently, so yes, it did have an impact. The Take can't pretend otherwise@@ThePastAnalysis
@@SerenaHung Just because there’s a lot of sad no-lifers that care about 3 seconds of an LGBT character doesn’t mean other content creators need to acknowledge it. The Take didn’t cover it because they can choose not to.
@@ThePastAnalysis if The Take is going to make a video specifically about the financial success of Elemental, then a nonbiased objective Take would be to address all factors that may affect box office returns, not just the ones that fit their narrative
@@SerenaHung If one were to give all the objective factors that influenced the movie’s initial low performance, then it would likely be a much larger video. As for the controversy itself, it’d be more objective to just say that a sad sorry lot of conservatives have sworn off Disney and chose not to see it. The Take’s video here isn’t to list why the movie did poorly. The title of the video is specifically “The Secret to Elemental’s Success.” The Take is addressing what saved the movie not what hurt it.
Beautiful animation, but terrible story which perpetuates stereotypes in a very lazy metaphor about race with a very lazy worldbuilding. Pixar isn't just what it used to to be...
