A new Pixar film is about to hit cinemas after years of Disney+ releases. The animation studio behind Toy Story and Coco is returning to movie theaters with an entirely original concept after the lackluster Lightyear marked their return to the silver screen. Now, Elemental has some big shoes to fill, as Pixar attempts to premiere a new hit that reminds audiences why their movies were so popular in the first place.

Curiously enough, the term “Elemental looks bad” started trending on Google not long ago. The search encompasses many opinions, from the rejection of Disney’s allegedly progressive agenda to simple disagreements with the film’s aesthetics. Still, Pixar has not been the goose that lays the golden eggs for a while now, which doesn’t mean that Elemental will flop, but Disney seems extra cautious with this upcoming film, which shows. The reason for this is a mixture of marketing and recent treatment of the latest movies. Still, here are some thoughts on why the idea of Elemental looks bad in the first place.
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The Disney+ Pixar Premieres Era

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2020 was a weird year for Pixar. Onward premiered in movie cinemas on March 6, 2020, shortly before the pandemic hit. There were some concerns about LGBTQ+ character representation as well, but clearly, the fact that movie theaters were mostly closed worldwide made it hard for the movie to find its audience.

What followed was an era of strange decisions when it came to premiering films. Once cinemas were opened again, Disney decided that some movies wouldn’t have a cinematic release, and Pixar was probably the big loser in this weird resolution. On December 25, 2020, Soul made its streaming debut on Disney+ (with some exceptions for international releases in cinemas), meeting with primarily positive reviews. The film was highly regarded but didn’t live up to its highest standards due to its limited release. Sure, it could also have been a poor cinematic reception, but the movie was never subject to proper judgment through box office numbers.

Luca and Turning Red had a similar fate. The former was set to premiere in cinemas in June 2021, long after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Disney decided to make it a streaming release instead, a decision that keeps giving the studio headaches to this day.

Once again, the critical consensus was favorable for the film, but it didn’t make the impact it could have due to its Disney+ exclusivity. Turning Red went the same way when the Omicron variant hit, with very limited theatrical releases that weren’t available for wider audiences.

The faux pas came with Lightyear, foreshadowing why Disney is barely promoting Elemental. Set to be Pixar’s big cinematic comeback, the film was revealed in December 2020 on Disney Investor Day, and the first teaser was announced in October 2021, eight months before its release in June 2022.

The teaser and trailer could be seen before virtually every other Disney movie screening between these dates, marking the studio’s high expectations for this film. Plus, controversy with LGBTQ+ representation struck once more, with Lightyear showcasing a same-sex marriage from an important character in the movie.

Polemics on the side, there are many reasons why the film underperformed. Still, it’s safe to say that it couldn’t capture Toy Story’s charm and hid too many cinematic references to sci-fi films that were unrecognizable for children and uninteresting for adults who could recognize them. Trying to take notes on this, Disney projected a strange marketing campaign for Elemental.

Related: Pixar’s Drop in Quality: How the Studio’s Recent Releases Prove It Untrue

Why Many Might Think Elemental Looks Bad

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There’s a reasonable scope of skepticism about Elemental going around the internet. Reasonable in the sense that recent history has not been as generous as it was with Pixar’s earlier hits. Secondly, the trailers and images released simply haven’t wowed audiences in the way that they used to.

Pixar’s competition is not the same as it was 20 years ago. With films like Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse reinventing the visual aspects of animated films (to name just one big competitor), Pixar can’t simply awe audiences with crisp animations of objects like it used to.

On a separate but equally curious note, there is criticism about the simplicity of the plot, but the depth of Pixar’s biggest hits hasn’t come from the premises’ elaboration. As many may recall, Pixar has been teased for making movies about different stuff having feelings, like toys (Toy Story), vehicles (Cars), or even feelings having feelings (Inside Out). Elemental doesn’t fall from the tree, with a romantic relationship between two opposite elements, fire, and water.

Related: How Elemental Proves That Pixar Is Doing the Heavy Lifting for Disney

The common factor between these two arguments against the film is the lack of information on it. It’s not that Elemental looks bad. It’s that Disney is avoiding overselling it. First screenings of the film show a favorable reception toward the project, which makes it a promising Pixar comeback to movie theaters. However, Disney remains cautious because many fans haven’t been on its side in recent years.

It might not be an instant classic (even if speculations on a sequel exist). Still, it might be the transitional movie that can set Pixar on the virtuous path it never left, but ultimately did go slightly astray, primarily because of decisions surrounding the films rather than films per se. It seems that Disney is going for a “not that bad” initial reaction. Will this suffice to make the movie a reasonable hit in terms of box office? The answer will soon surface.