Well, this was a pleasant surprise. I had resigned myself to inevitable disappointment after hearing the mixed to negative out of Cannes, for Disney/Pixar’s 27th feature film, Elemental, helmed by Peter Sohn, director of one of the only objectively not good Pixar films, The Good Dinosaur. Imagine my surprise when I discovered how much Elemental has to offer audiences. It may not be Inside Out/Coco/Soul great, but it isn’t trying to be. Very surprisingly, considering the film’s marketing campaign, which seems derivative of about five other recent animated films, Elemental isn’t trying to be like anything else. Elemental is Pixar’s first genuine, swoony, big-hearted romantic comedy.

In Element City, anthropomorphized elements – Fire, Water, Air and Earth, all live amongst one another in a grand, bustling metropolis full of hope and possibility. Bernie (Ronnie del Carmen) and Cinder (Shila Ommi) emigrate from the “old country” to Element City, in the hope of a better life. Their daughter Ember (Leah Lewis) is born and the family opens a shop in Fire Town, which will someday become Ember’s. Fast forward to teenage Ember, she’s street-smart and quick-witted and has the trademark fiery temper that keeps getting her into trouble.

She wants to be everything her parents want her to be, acutely aware of the sacrifices they made for her. After she meets Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie), a fun-loving, emotionally sappy Water element/city inspector, they discover forces that are polluting the water going to Fire Town, and are leading to an event that could destroy the entire corner of the city the Fire elements have made for themselves. Wade and Ember must work together to basically prevent a genocide amongst the Fire people, and while this is all happening a romance between the two sparks and becomes undeniable. But of course they can never really be together, right?

Like I said, Elemental is Pixar’s first real romantic comedy. But of course, it isn’t just that. It’s also a children’s movie about racism and the immigrant experience. And xenophobia and the way this kind of hatred can be ingrained in one’s mind from an early age. And it’s also kind of about the Flint water crisis. And it’s also kind of about the Japanese occupation of Korea and the threat of genocide. And it’s not subtle, not in the slightest.

It comes close to delivering all of these messages in a heavy-handed way, but luckily Elemental knows when to pull back and give the audience some genuine joy, and Sohn manages to make this about the entertainment value above the message. It’s a children’s movie about immigration the same way Inside Out is a children’s movie about depression, and Coco and Soul are children’s movies about death. The context is there, the emotional impact is there, but these movies remember to let the audience have a good time.

The animation style is eye-popping, stunningly beautiful and almost visually overwhelming. The way the Fire and Water characters are rendered is far beyond than the ads would lead you to believe. The expected Pixar amount of visual wizardry and artistry is absolutely present here. The metropolis of Element City seems to be borrowing a lot from Zootopia. And maybe it is, but the movie sucks you in so much that it isn’t apparent or bothersome while you’re watching it. You want to visit this world, and see all the big parts of it and the smaller neighborhoods. It feels like that would be an utterly joyful experience.

Peter Sohn has stated this film is inspired by his own family’s immigrant experience, and maybe that’s what he needed to find a story worth telling. Elemental is deeply felt and personal, but also feels universal to this experience which is common to so many. Not just the immigrant experience, but the feeling of being the child who your parents have so much invested in, and not wanting to disappoint them, but also wanting to be true to the person you’ve become. There may not be any people in Elemental, but the story couldn’t be more human.

The voice cast is reliably great. Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie, two actors I had not previously seen before, are pitch perfect here. The film mostly relies on them, but the two actors playing Ember’s parents, Pixar animator Ronnie del Carmen and Iranian actress Shila Ommi, bring such specificity to their voice performances, and they’re a joy to behold. Some bigger-name character actors pop up – Catherine O’Hara as Wade’s mother, Wendi McLendon-Covey as his boss, but these actors don’t have much to do and never distract from the lesser-known talents who are shining big time here.

Elemental sits comfortably in the tier of Pixar just below my favorites. It’s not one of their very best, but it’s still the kind of innovative, magnetic and emotionally involving charmer you’ll want to explore again and again. There’s some rough patches in act one that become completely part of the charm in act three. Elemental proves Pixar is not in the midst of a slump, actually, and their films can still deliver on the levels we expect. Most of all I’m glad I got to see this in a theater and Disney isn’t dumping Pixar films to Disney+ anymore. Because, even second-tier Pixar can be totally joyful to behold.