Pixar returns with immigrant fable 'Elemental'

LOS ANGELES

Pixar is seeking to rediscover its box office fortunes with timely immigrant fable "Elemental," the animation studio's first totally original new film to hit theaters since the start of the pandemic.

The movie, out next Friday in the United States, is set in the fantastical Element City, where residents made out of fire, water, earth and air must learn to live in close proximity, despite their highly combustible differences.

It follows a dangerous romance between Ember, the fiery daughter of a hard-working immigrant, and Wade, the go-with-the-flow son of a wealthy water family.

Their relationship tests the divided city's mantra that "elements don't mix," a not-so-subtle metaphor for racism and prejudice in real-life society.

"Oh, my goodness, it's so forbidden! The fact that their very lives are at stake if Wade and Ember get close together -- it's like Romeo and Juliet," said Leah Lewis, who plays Ember.

"This film talks a lot about family loyalty, cultural identity, falling in love for the first time," she told AFP at the film's U.S. premiere in Los Angeles this week.

Like many involved with the film, Lewis has her own immigrant story. She was adopted as a baby from a Shanghai orphanage by Floridian parents.

Mamoudou Athie, who voices Wade, was born in Mauritania and obtained US citizenship just over a year ago, while Ronnie del Carmen, who voices Ember's dad Bernie, emigrated from the Philippines.

Several stars noted the importance of the film's themes, at a moment when immigration dominates political debate.

Just this week, Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis, flew planeloads of immigrants across the country to California, in a bid to tout his tough stance on the issue ahead of next year's presidential election.

"It is very timely in our world today... If everybody can watch this movie, please, we need it," del Carmen told AFP.

The message is "a very prescient one for the times we're in," said co-star Wendi McLendon-Covey.