Pixar‘s offering for 2023 looks like a gorgeous, inventive successor to its personified emotions in Inside Out. The teaser trailer for Elemental follows the fiery Ember Lumen (voiced by Leah Lewis) as she dons her hoodie and headphones to ride the metro into Element City, passing by all the weird and wonderful denizens made of earth and air and water. It’s a great showcase of gags capped by a meet cute when her hand sizzles against Wade Ripple’s (voiced by Mamoudou Athie). She’s tough and sarcastic. He goes with the flow. And they’ll create an unlikely friendship in a world where different personalities all get to ride public transport together.
Director Peter Sohn (The Good Dinosaur) said back in May that the story was inspired by his parents.
“My parents emigrated from Korea in the early 1970s and built a bustling grocery store in the Bronx,” Sohn said. “We were among many families who ventured to a new land with hopes and dreams—all of us mixing into one big salad bowl of cultures, languages and beautiful little neighborhoods. That’s what led me to Elemental.”
So far Pixar hasn’t explained what the movie is about, which is par for the course for a company that usually lets the animation and vibes of the world sell us on going. Speaking of which, we’ll have to physically go somewhere to see it because Elemental will be only in theaters June 16th. If you run into an attractive stranger on the metro on your way there, try not to drip on them.