Elemental (2023 film) watch and review
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Fire elements Bernie and Cinder Lumen immigrate to Element City, where they face xenophobia from other elements and struggle to find a home. They have a daughter, Ember, and eventually establish a convenience store called the Fireplace, setting up a Blue Flame that represents their heritage and traditions and attracting many fire element patrons over time. Bernie intends to give the store to Ember when he retires, but first she must control her fiery temper. When Bernie allows Ember to run the shop on her own, she becomes overwhelmed by the customers and rushes to the basement. Her fiery outburst breaks a water pipe, flooding the basement and summoning Wade Ripple, a water element and city inspector. Wade notes the faulty plumbing and reluctantly leaves for City Hall to send the violation report to his air element employer, Gale Cumulus, who will have the Fireplace shut down. Ember pursues Wade but is too late.
Taking pity on Ember, Wade brings her to Cyclone Stadium to convince Gale to reconsider the shutdown of her father's store. Wade mentions to Ember that he was investigating a leak in the city's canals before ending up at the Fireplace, and offers to Gale that he and Ember can track the source of the leak from the store. Gale gives the duo a tight deadline; if they are able to find and seal the leak, then the violations will be forgiven. While searching the canals, Wade surmises that Ember's temper derives from her trying to tell herself something that she is not ready to accept, but Ember denies this. They then discover a hole in a dam that allows wave runoff from ships to flood the city's plumbing, so they close the hole with sandbags.
Wade and Ember spend time together in the city and learn more about each other. Later, Wade informs Ember that the sandbags did not hold, so Ember uses her glassmaking ability to create a sturdier seal for the hole in the dam. Meanwhile, Cinder suspects Ember is seeing someone and follows her. Ember visits Wade's family at a luxury apartment, where she uses her fire to fix a broken glass pitcher, impressing Wade's mother Brook, who recommends her for a glassmaking internship. Ember also plays the crying game with Wade, in which he successfully makes her cry when he admits he has feelings for her. Gale then calls Wade and gives her approval of Ember's glass seal, thus saving the Fireplace from closure. Ember then realizes that she does not want to take over the store.
Bernie announces his intention to retire and hand the Fireplace to Ember. He tells Ember how, when leaving his homeland, he bowed to his father but his father refused to bow back. The next evening, Wade takes Ember to Garden Central Station to see Vivisteria flowers, which she was denied seeing in childhood. With the station now flooded, Gale provides Ember with an air bubble for safety while Wade pushes her underwater through the station. Afterward, Wade and Ember realize that they are able to touch without harming each other and share a romantic dance, but Ember is reminded of her duty to the Fireplace and her family's prejudice against water elements, and leaves, upsetting Wade.
As Ember is about to take over the Fireplace during a party, Wade appears and professes his love for her, while also accidentally revealing that she caused the broken pipe. Ember rejects Wade, but Cinder senses genuine affection. Disappointed, Bernie decides not to retire and denies Ember the store. Soon after, the new seal on the dam breaks and the fire district floods. After saving the Blue Flame, Ember and Wade become trapped in a room in the Fireplace, causing Wade to evaporate from the enclosed heat.
When the flood recedes, a grief-stricken Ember confesses to Bernie that she does not want to run the Fireplace and expresses her love for Wade. Realizing Wade has seeped into the stone ceiling, Ember plays the crying game to get him to drip back into his normal form. Ember and Wade embrace and kiss.
Months later, Wade and Ember, now a couple, leave Element City so Ember can study glassmaking far away and travel the world together. Before she boards the ship, Ember bows to Bernie, who returns the gesture.
