DIRECTOR'S CUT: Movie Boyfriend of the Year: Wade from Pixar's ELEMENTAL
How do you connect with people and draw them in?
Licensed therapist Jonathan Decker and filmmaker Alan Seawright are reacting to Pixar’s latest movie, Elemental. They take a look at Ember’s relationship with her dad and how Wade models emotional openness. Jonathan talks about what it means to be angry and what Ember is really feeling, as well as Ember’s complicated emotions about the shop and her dad’s sacrifice. Alan talks about the stunning and challenging visual effects work to create characters made of elements. And he wonders why Pixar movies make him cry so much. Wade looks like Jonathan but acts like Alan... do you think Pixar is watching?
Comments (27)
I love you guys. I pretty much always end up laughing watching and this time I laughed a lot. Y'all are adorable together and I love it. Thanks.
When my kid struggled, we got her involved in "play therapy." Pixar always leaves me feeling like I have just attended "movie therapy."
That last cheek flap made me laugh. Excellent episode as usual, I cried more in your episode than I did watching the actual movie
Alan: I've explained tears to my kids as someone having so much emotion, it flows out from their eyes.
Praise to the post team -- I really liked the cut ins of the voice actor with their character when Alan was talking about connecting with the actor. Brilliant.
Unpopular Opinion. Pixar do what they do so well because they show the hardships of an issue without painting all of one side as the villian. Too many people try to make an issue as 'us vs them' without showing any middle ground to try meet on. Pixar understands the middle ground is needed to show the solution and tell a story well.
I think you're spot on here -- life isn't a binary with clear-cut right/wrong, villain/hero, and it's very difficult to retrain as an adult with decades of reinforcement of the forced binary. It takes experience, compassion, and empathy to overcome if no one teaches us as children.
I have rarely been so seen in a disney movie, and I definitely saw myself in both of these characters. Both Wade and Ember both reflected really different parts of myself, and not only was the love story amazing, but it kind of reminded me that those two parts of me can live together. That plus the amazing parallels to life, and the fact that Wade got sad at people making fun of Lutz (Something that I do at like every sports event I go to), it made it a really special experience for me. great movie!!!!
I can relate to crying at everything, especially pixar. It's like I'm feeling too many or too much feelings and it bubbles over and the damn breaks. But sometimes it's good, like food for the soul, to feel overwhelmed by good feelings. I loved this movie when I saw it in cinemas and was excited when I saw that you'd reacted to it. As always, your team are doing incredible.
Jonno's send-off had me in stiches. Thanks Alan for pointing out the things us pixar newbs would miss out on. ;)
See, it's not that Pixar's Airball is nebulous and unclear... it's that it's clearly Blitzball from Final Fantasy 10, which is FRIGGIN' IMPOSSIBLE NONSENSE.
THANK YOU! I thought the same thing when I first saw this lol.
loved this movie, great episode! would love if you guys did a video on Matilda, definitely one of my favorite childhood movies
But should we do the Mara Wilson version, or the musical??? Or somehow both...? 🤔
After watching this, I absolutely want to see this movie. I was turned off my the makreting (no shade to the marketing people! They're doing their best!). I love that you never spoil the ending of these newer movies for us!
I must say that I now also have doubts that Pixar may indeed have made a representation of Alan in Wade. It's just too uncanny at this point. XD That was a wonderful episode, guys. Thank you!!
This was a movie I saw before hearing the negative reviews for, and I actually thought it was an okay movie. Not my fav Pixar by far, and not a super strong movie, but it was still a good one, and my 5yr old loves it and watches it often, and it isn’t trash like Cocomelon, so that’s a win for me lol. Also, Jono is both so cringe and likeable at the same time. Reminds me of me. It’s like he’s like my spirit animal..? Spirit-animal-internet-dad? Thank you for showing me that you can be brave, and risk the cringe moments to the world, and still be cool accepted. Alan, thank you for showing that you can be vulnerable and cry to the world, and still be strong and accepted.
John's flapping gums will forever haunt me in my dreams; May the lord please cleanse my thoughts of their unholy nature. Amen.
29:50 - and that is exactly why Pixar films devastate you, Alan; they give your innermost little one the things it was the adults' jobs to give you.
I skipped this movie due to the negative reviews (from people I know as well), and I will be watching it ASAP. You are 100% correct that the marketing did not reflect any of this.
I LOVED THIS MOVIE SO MUCH.
It's SO good!
I loved this movie! I knew it would be a fabulous movie for the show. Thanks for helping us laugh through the tears
I really liked the score as well.
Great episode, thanks everyone! :)
Just in time! Finally watched this movie last week (really enjoyed it and glad that it managed to recover from the initial low box office reception) so I can watch you guys talk about it!
It was poorly marketed and deserves so much better!