Overall I hold Pixar to quite a high standard and this movie simply does not come close to that standard in any criteria. One of the magic traits of Pixar has traditionally been for the creators to get you to really feel for the animated characters that it develops. In this movie the characters are quite simply flat. All we really get to know about Ember the entire movie is that she has a bad temper and isn't particularly enthused to continue running her father's business. We also gather very little about her friend Wade , who I suppose is the lead supporting character. He seems like a relatively friendly guy who works for the bureaucracy and develops a strong crush for Ember. That's all we get from him and it gives you really little reason to root for him. Even worse, and a very bad message to send to viewers, he's extremely pushy and borderline stalker like showing up uninvited to Ember's family celebration to profess his love for her. The idea that you can just throw yourself upon someone and expect to earn their love just isn't a reality in the real world. In almost no scenario in reality would Ember change her mind after this stunt.
Further the movie is clearly trying to make connections to the struggles of immigrants in the real world. Specifically, it focuses on issues of how the races/elements can clash. In my view, the parallels they are trying to draw are simply poor ones . For instance, people are people regardless of race and therefore should be able to prosper in harmony, while elements (fire /water/ etc on the other hand have very real reasons for why they can't mix. For example, when Ember's family is trying to get housing they show them go to a wood tree building. Clearly fire and wood can't go together or the place would burn down. So there is a very practical reason for why they couldn't live there. On the other hand, there is no practical justification for discrimination in the real world. Overall, the movies attempts to draw connections to the real world just aren't solid enough.
Lastly, the plot is very predictable and just never captured my interest. A direct contrast to this movie for me would be the Pixar movie 'Soul' where you are actively rooting for the main character, feel a connection to their story, and the plot that keeps you engaged.
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