The Classic Romantic Comedies That Inspired Pixar's Elemental

Pixar's new movie "Elemental" is poised to be the studio's first proper romantic comedy. The film's plot has a bit of a star-crossed premise, as residents of two separate neighborhoods — one made of fire, and the other of water — begin to fall in love. Pixar might be known for inspiring waterworks of its own, but in a recent interview with Gizmodo, director Peter Sohn indicated that this movie is less of a "West Side Story" and more of a "Moonstruck."

I certainly never expected a Pixar movie to garner comparisons to the 1987 favorite in which bad luck-obsessed Cher falls for Nicholas Cage in a prosthetic hand, but that's not the only delightfully unexpected rom-com that Sohn said influenced the film. "I am a huge fan of so many romantic comedies, from the Jane Austen films to [movies like] 'Moonstruck' and 'The Big Sick,'" the filmmaker shared. He also cited Jean-Pierre Jeunet's 2001 French film "Amélie." What do all of these have in common? According to Sohn, it's love as a reason to combine two unique worlds together.

In Pixar's case, the worlds in question are the water-based community that Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie) calls home and Fire Town, where Ember Lumen (Leah Lewis) spends time with her fiery family. "That connection between fire and water was the first thing I pitched to Disney," Peter Sohn, who also co-wrote the story for the film, said.

The two opposites are emblematic not just of a universal story of bridging the gap between differing backgrounds, but also of Sohn's own experiences as a Korean-American man informed by his own relationships. "Romance is a big part of the movie, but it was also that part of my connection that I had with trying to marry someone that was outside my culture," Sohn told Gizmodo.

Previously, the filmmaker made it clear that the world of "Elemental" isn't meant to include one-to-one stand-ins for real-life cultures. "Once people started saying, or asking, 'Oh, are they Asian?' It's like, 'No, no. They're not meant to be Asian,'" Sohn explained during a preview event attended by /Film. "My biggest goal was to try to take the element itself and pull from there to make the culture."

Sohn cited the fact that the fire people eat wood as an example of a fact that the movie builds around, creating its own unique culture that isn't reflective of any single real-world experience. "No Earth people eat wood in this way. How can we exploit that? What kind of plates would they have?'" he explained. "So it'd be extrapolating everything we could from the culture."

With that in mind, the movie comparisons start to make even more sense. Just as a fictionalized version of Kumail Nanjiani (played by himself) was thrust into the world of his girlfriend's extremely white family in "The Big Sick," or Ronny (Nicolas Cage) is introduced to the warmly chaotic world of Loretta's (Cher) Brooklynite Italian-American family in "Moonstruck," the characters of "Elemental" will access one another's worlds through the film's central relationship. It's a cute idea — one that early first impressions indicate is executed well in what sounds like a winning movie.

Peter Sohn also told Gizmodo that the love story doubles as an immigrant story. "It's not just, like, a boy meeting a girl," he said. "It was also a father and a daughter and what that relationship was." The movie started out with the idea of "something universal," but grew into a story with multiple heartfelt relationships."We can have part of that connection with these two, fire and water, but then also understanding the family dynamic and that cultural part of this to make the film larger," Sohn said.

While Pixar hasn't exactly been on a hot streak lately — its parent Disney opted out of releasing several films in theaters during the COVID-19 pandemic, and "Lightyear" flopped this time last year — "Elemental" seems like the type of project that could turn its fortunes around. After all, if there's one thing Pixar is known for, it's charming the hell out of kids and adults alike, so an animated romantic comedy seems like a no-brainer for the beloved studio. "Elemental" hits theaters on June 16, 2023.