The Couch Critic
The Couch Critic is your laid-back guide to movies and TV shows that deserve your attention—or maybe don’t. Nathan dives deep into storytelling, character development, and cinematic style with a sharp eye and a wry sense of humor. Whether it’s a blockbuster hit, a hidden gem, or a cult classic, Nathan’s relatable approach ensures every episode feels like a cozy chat with a friend who just happens to love film. Perfect for casual watchers and cinephiles alike, The Couch Critic brings thoughtful critique without the fluff. Grab your favorite snack, settle in, and let Nathan guide you through the world of screen entertainment.
The Couch Critic
Exploring Disney Pixar's Elemental
Get set for a whirlwind journey as Natey and Katy discuss the magical world of Disney Pixar's latest creation, Elemental. With Katy recounting her time at the movies with her son and their thoughts on everything from the film's cast to its political undertones, no stone is left unturned. They talk about the intriguing concept of creating children's movies with heavy messages.
But that's not all. They take a close look at Elemental's performance at the box office and ponder over the director's intentions behind this captivating film. Could it potentially be used as an educational tool in classrooms? What message does it convey to the viewers? Join them as they explore these avenues, and as always, they love hearing from you. So, don't forget to drop them a review, follow their social media channels, and share your movie suggestions. Buckle up, grab your popcorn, and enjoy the animated adventure!
One's a movie buff, one watches movies, just enough Together. Fun will be had by all. This is Nady and Katie at the Movies.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to another brand new episode of Nady and Katie at the Movies. I'm your host, nathan aka Nady, of course. Happy 4th of July. Thanks for taking the time out of your 4th of July to listen to this episode. And with me, as always on this journey of movies, is my good, good, good, good, good, good friend, katie. Hi, katie, how are you? Happy 4th of July.
Speaker 3:Why, thank you Just celebrating my freedom today? Freedom too. Eat hot dogs and hamburgers. Thank you, frowning Fathers.
Speaker 2:Well, and also we have the freedom to go see movies, even though we're technically paying to see these movies. But the movie we're going to be talking about today, on this glorious 4th of July, is Disney Pixar's Elemental. That's right, it's a cartoon. But before we jump right into Elemental, i got to give the synopsis. Elemental follows Ember and Wade in a city where fire, water, land and air residents live together. Elemental stars Leah Lewis as Ember.
Speaker 2:Leah Lewis is in such things as Bat Wheels and Cupcakes Don't know either of those things. It also stars Mamadou Athe as Wade Ripple, which I didn't know. Wade had a last name. He was in Jurassic World, dominion and The Circle. It also stars Ronnie Del Carmen as Bernie. He was an inside out and soul and he was also a writer and a director and producer for some of those movies. Shaila Ami plays Cinder, and they were in Terran Don't know what that is. And Catherine O'Hara plays Brooke, which I don't know. If they ever say a character's name, brooke in the movie, she was in such things as Schitt's Creek and Waiting for Guffman. Catherine O'Hara is the only person in this entire cast that I actually know. Katie, what did you think of Elemental?
Speaker 3:To start off, i haven't seen a Pixar movie in theaters in a long time. I very much appreciated the beginning where there's a little short. That was such a unique thing to Pixar movies and I think that had been lost on me, since I watched a lot of stuff on, you know, at home streaming. So I really appreciated that. We got to see the characters from up. So if you haven't seen the movie yet, just be in mind you're not missing part of the movie and you're not in the wrong movie If you see some up characters at the beginning.
Speaker 3:That said, this movie I took my son to because it felt very, very friendly to kids and he did not sleep at all, so that's a really big positive. However, he seemed somewhat disinterested and he has not mentioned it since. I think his favorite part of the whole movie was getting a cup that had Ember and Wade on there. I don't know, i don't know that I really have this Maybe a short episode, nathan, because I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it And I will say this is one of those movies where the outside politics, i think, play a large role in people's feelings. I think people were not going into this movie or not even attempting to see this movie due to some of the politics, rather than just coming in watching a movie.
Speaker 2:I'm going to first say that I did get one of those cups as well, and I also took my time to get one of those awesome flash buckets while I went to go see Elemental. So, that being said, i guess I'm on the same board as you. I didn't hate it, but I also didn't love it. I didn't mind the political aspects of it, which I wouldn't even call them political aspects. I think it's just like Pixar does a really good job at doing social commentary in their kids' films. This one, i thought, was kind of I don't know. I don't think it was heavy handed, i just think it was a very weighty movie, and I can also say that about Inside Out, which I actually enjoyed. Inside Out. That also was very weighty for a kid's movie And it just begs the question for me anyway, why is Pixar trying to make kids' movies with weighty messages?
Speaker 1:And again.
Speaker 2:I'm not saying it's wrong, but I'm saying, if you're going to advertise this as a cartoon kids movie, parents are gonna bring their little little kids to it. And I'm watching it with the mindset of I have a two year old and you brought your son to it, you stated, and his most exciting part was getting the cup. It wasn't the film itself. I just don't understand what Pixar is thinking when they make a film that's not necessarily geared towards kids, but also it's geared towards kids because it's a cartoon. Does that make sense?
Speaker 3:I do like to try to do Oreos, where I start with the good, hit them bad in the middle and end with the good. But since you called me out last episode, i'm gonna do the opposite with Inside Out. We'll do the hard part first, the parts I didn't love as much. So I think that was one of my big dislikes. People have commented that CS Lewis was too obvious with his Christian allegory in Chronicles of Narnia and people respect Tolkien with how his was more subtle. I'm fine, like you said.
Speaker 3:I'm fine with there being adult messages. I think as a parent, we should want our cartoons to have a message. If it's just mindless action, mindless goofiness, that's not really a benefit. So I do want it to have teaching points.
Speaker 3:However, to me this movie was way over the top and way too almost like tit for tat real life. If you wanna make it like that, just make a movie about an Asian person who's immigrated to America and is suffering from racism, instead of pretending like we're talking about fire and water. I understand I do really like the culture they were trying to create, but again it was so much on the nose that it felt too much. I'm like just commit Like you, clear it, like there's no hiding, that you're making this exactly saying a specific type of people and specific actions. So that kind of annoyed me And again I don't mind the message of like, hey, it's hard for people who've immigrated or hey, it's difficult when we have people from different backgrounds and intermixing and that maybe older generations have more trouble with understanding that that's all fine but maybe not so obvious with everything.
Speaker 3:So that's probably one of my big negatives, and another negative would probably be this is really petty, but I really wanted there to be lots of elements like elemental. I feel like the movie should just been called Fire and Water.
Speaker 2:Well, going back about what you said about the story of immigrants and things like that, to be fair, the director has stated that this story is based on his actual family's experience. So he was using this film to tell his family's story And so with that aspect, i can respect that and I can understand that. But yes, like I said and like you said, i just thought it was a little heavy-handed for a kid's movie. Also, since we're going straight to our dislikes, i guess I thought the romance between Ember and Wade was random and stupid and I didn't believe it the entire time. This is me as a moviegoer, not necessarily talking about the quote unquote political aspect of it, just the story itself. I thought it was too quick. I thought Wade was a little too over the top because I guess water people are supposed to be more sensitive and so they cry a lot and fire people are more like serious and get angry easily And so that's why they're oh, we're, opposites, we can't be together. I didn't.
Speaker 3:I thought No, Nathan, no, you got that wrong, Nathan. You are being, you are stereotyping right now. They never said that all waters were that way and that all fires were that way.
Speaker 2:Well, you meet Wade's family and they're all like that. But anyway, i digress. I would have been fine if they were just friends, like if they just built the strong friendship. I didn't understand why I had to be romantic. I didn't understand it at all, especially at the end, which spoiler Wade ends up trying to save Ember and ends up doing it, but also at the same time becomes steam and evaporates And I was thinking, oh man, they're gonna have him sacrifice himself to save Ember. That's awesome. I thought that was an awesome way to tell the story. But no, he comes back and I thought that just cheapened the moment. Again, i'm saying this as a moviegoer critiquing a kid's movie, but if you're going to have those kind of things in a kid's movie, i'm going to critique them and I think he should have sacrificed himself. I think it should have been more of a heroic thing and if they hadn't built this stupid romance, it would have made more sense. But they had to have this romantic spin on it, which I thought was dumb.
Speaker 3:I Was fine with them being romantic. I agree with you that, just like any movie, you're like How did you develop an affection for each other? like, name two things you like about each other, because there wasn't really a lot of Conversations where they got to know each other's heart, especially the fire girl. You're like what is it that drew you to her? because she's hot.
Speaker 2:Get it I.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, I was fine with the romance. I Think one of the things to move into some likes to get to the cream I Really liked. And it was the same way for inside out. I loved that movie. Inside out was incredible. I kind of went into this feeling. Those vibes It felt very much. You know they're trying to make a cartoon version of something realistic, for example the baby bottle. You know the fire baby is drinking Propane as like milk, so like things like that happened all throughout the movie where you're like oh, that's clever, Oh, that's clever, That's very clever in the little world that they built. And so there's one moment where she like explodes and gets angry and it like Fries up all the plant life. I thought that the world building they did was really good. I just wish that the movie was more about that. I did not. I don't know if you were this way. I had no idea we were walking into a romance movie. I thought the whole thing was gonna be focused on the entire world.
Speaker 2:And again, I'm not even really joking when I say don't call it elemental if it's really only focused on fire and water well, i mean, if you watch the trailers and you kind of already I Don't know if you saw any of the trailers, but you kind of already got a sense that they were gonna try to bring these two together and How they don't they don't mix well, which okay, whatever and to say that this is an original idea, people are saying, oh it's, it's the first original Pixar movie in a while. And people are saying, maybe that's why it's not doing. Well, i Don't think the story itself is original. So I don't think it's original.
Speaker 2:But going back to some more dislikes, I don't know how you feel about the subtle, the subtle crap, and when I say that I mean this, a specific scene Actually there's two scenes, but one's more on the nose about what it's supposed to be. It's When ember meets Wade's family. He's meeting all his siblings and family members and he says this is my sister and her girlfriend. I'm talking as a, as a Christian person who has my views, and this is how I'm critiquing this movie. I had to roll my eyes because I'm like, really, and I won't go too much into this because I know there's probably some people who might be turned off by that But I just don't. Why can't I just watch one movie? one movie That doesn't have to have what I call a Check the box moment.
Speaker 1:I don't know that was totally yeah.
Speaker 2:It was just out of nowhere. And then there's another scene where I guess Embers mom is the kind of like a fortune teller, tarot reader or whatever. She reads smoke and can pick up people's love. I Don't know if I'm right or wrong on this, but there's a couple at the beginning where she's reading their candle smoke. Pretty sure it's supposed to be a male couple.
Speaker 3:I understand diversity and inclusion, like I don't under. I understand that, but I agree with you that even if I was someone from that People group feels forced. I would almost rather you make a whole movie That's really highlighting that. But you're right, i mean, why did no one said the ripple family siblings had to have partners of any kind, like what? that, like you're saying, it seemed completely just. We're shoving this in here does check a box. So, yeah, even even opinions aside on on what you think, i felt like it was very weird And I agree with you. There's the obligatory stuff wedged in there, but I didn't feel like there was too much politics into again, other than Wanting it to just be about fire and water, and it felt like the whole time we're watching the movie We're like, okay, but it's not really fire, it's actually this and it's not really water, it's actually that I just want to watch a movie That's genuinely about the cartoon itself.
Speaker 2:Well, and also you know the message that it's setting and again, i know it's supposed to be a story of the director's actual family. I don't, and some people might listen to this and be like Nathan, you have no idea what you're talking about. I don't really see interracial Relationships being that taboo anymore that we need a movie That's basically talking about that. Again, pixar inside out, the thinking of teenagers, that's something that is a universal topic that could be talked about forever in a day. I'm not saying this movie shouldn't have been made. I think the reasons why this movie isn't doing as well is because it's a summer movie season. You got the flash. You got all these other movies coming out. Most people are probably gonna wait till this comes on Disney Plus to stream it right now.
Speaker 2:It's like the biggest flop for Disney Pixar when it comes to the animation. So I think it has a lot of factors and the biggest one for me And this is my last dislike is that I can't tell that it's a kids movie because of how boring it is. It's not exciting, it's. There's not a lot of action. There's no. It's like the Mario movie was very bright. It's very quick, a lot of action. Da, da da da. It was intriguing to the eye, this movie, while the animation and this is my only like. I thought the animation was very nice, but it was just. It was just the boring.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no the animation was incredible. You are your spot on, like I was a love. I mean the fact that they have Wade's hair just waving every time and the flames are Waving and again, the world building. They spend the first five minutes doing an incredible world building scenery and then it feels like you just Drop off and do a romance. And I think it still ties back to my idea where maybe the director is trying so hard to shoe in his story That he Sacrifices the entertainment piece or the fun piece because he's so fixated on like well, this is gonna represent this from my life and this part's gonna represent this from my life, and It's too much focus there. I think you're right.
Speaker 3:I think that This movie well, this movie was a flop. Apparently I was looking this up. Apparently toy story in 1995 had the same box office release That this movie did. So talking, that's over 20 years ago had the same. I mean so again, adjusting for inflation. That's pretty wild and I think it's because everyone has this thought, like I no longer even me, who doesn't do a lot of research I walked into this movie assuming there was gonna be some ulterior Message like that I'm supposed to be pick up on and I don't like that. I want to go into a movie thinking There's just gonna be some inspiring story And I don't feel that anymore. I just know, like, what message they want me to get this time When I walk in and it takes away from any chance of me just relaxing and enjoying.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean the message could have been the power of friendship and how Anybody can be friends and anyone can sacrifice themselves for their friends.
Speaker 3:Nobody was changed, like their love happened. But you're right at the end nothing has changed. It's not like her parents were all of a sudden less racist towards water people like They were. Like sure you can go live your own dream. I don't know what. I guess I leave in the movie saying what did you want me to take away? I know you have a message for me, but what was it? Is it more about the racial aspect or is it more focused on Don't do what your parents tell you to do, do what you want to do and don't let them force their career goals on you Like I don't know or just, you know, just drink more water.
Speaker 3:That's probably it, that's probably, it's probably actually probably a science, educational science and there wasn't a lot of that either. There was a few jokes about The elements, right like you had your water and fire make steam. But if I wanted to incorporate this into my classroom, there wasn't a ton of element jokes or element Science that you could kind of say, hey, as a science teacher, kind of like, oh, that's, that's accurate, they have. I think they really could have done something there. I showed inside out to my psychology class because there was a lot. There was so much actual Psychology in that movie and I loved it. This one I expected to be that way for science and felt like it lacked. So with that we I don't know, i don't know if we have much positive to say elemental, i'm sorry.
Speaker 2:Katie, what would you give elemental one out of six stars?
Speaker 3:seeing us how. I Fell asleep a little bit in the middle And I didn't walk away inspired. Nor was there any music that just really captured me, but I do like the animation. I'm gonna give them a two and a half.
Speaker 2:Okay, this has got to be some kind of miracle, because this is the second episode that we've agreed on a rating, because I'm giving it a two and a half because it was boring and all I really loved was just like how your son really loved. I loved getting the cup. So that is elemental. Everyone, if you haven't seen it, i You know I'm not gonna tell you not to go see a movie if you want to go see it, but after hearing our review, just make up your mind. So our next homework assignment is Indiana Jones and the dial of destiny. This is the fifth and supposedly final Indiana Jones film with Harrison Ford. With every movie that has more than one movie in the franchise, i have to ask, katie, have you ever seen Indiana Jones movie before?
Speaker 3:I have seen all of the Indiana Jones movies. Yes, Dr.
Speaker 2:Jones. There you go, see. I have to admit I don't think I've ever watched an Indiana Jones movie all the way through, so I'm actually going to watch all Of them before I go see this, and I'm actually seeing it with my faja, so I'm pretty excited about that. Katie, do you have anything to leave us with for elemental? I?
Speaker 1:Love you guys. Thanks for listening to nady and Katie at the movies. Feel free to leave us a review so people can find the show. Follow us on all our social media platforms And if there's a movie that you want us to watch, feel free to contact us at nady and Katie at gmailcom. Thanks for listening and have a great day.
