“Elemental” is the latest Pixar premise to feel like someone laced the cafeteria’s kombucha keg with ayahuasca. This story is simpler (elemental, even). Yet, the four classical elements are one of civilization’s great unifiers, a cosmological theory shared by the Hindu Vedas, the Buddhist Mahabhuta, the Kongo cosmogram, the Indigenous medicine wheel and the zodiac. We’ve long interpreted life through water, earth, air and fire. Now, the trick is to see the life in them, once we squint past the visually overwhelming chaos of Element City, a smelting pot of puns and allusions.

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Persons: Coco ”, It’s, Empedocles, Ember Lumen, Leah Lewis, Wade Ripple Organizations: Pixar Locations: Element City, Manhattan, Kongo