The 7 Best Movies To Watch If You Loved Pixar's Elemental

2023's "Elemental" was Pixar's most technically challenging film, as may expect of the visual task that comes with creating a romantic comedy-drama about a society of classic natural elements of wind, air, fire, and water. Most of the city's residents are wary of the destructive fire elementals, but a young, feisty fire named Ember Lumen (Leah Lewis) and a downcast water element city inspector called Wade Ripple (Mamodou Athie) nevertheless end up on an adventure together all across the magnificent Element City and, eventually, fall in love.

"Elemental" may not go down in history as one of the biggest Pixar movies of all time, but both the public and the critics quite enjoyed it. And after a slow start, the film's box office success finally kicked in to the tune of a worldwide gross of over $496 million. Combine this with all the viewers who have watched it on Disney+ or bought the movie on home video, and there are plenty of people out there who like, if not love, the film. Unfortunately, "Elemental" is Pixar's only visit to Element City so far, so what else can you watch if you loved it and want to watch something with a similar vibe? Here are seven great candidates.

While we're on the subject of unlikely couples living in epic, high-concept cities, look no further than Disney's 2016 buddy cop film, "Zootopia." The titular town is inhabited by anthropomorphic animals of all species living together in relative peace. Unfortunately, the normally docile predators have started to go missing only to return as "savages," having mysteriously reverted back to their pre-civilized state of stalking and hunting prey animals. The unlikely pairing of rabbit cop Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and small-time criminal fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) leads to the pair unraveling the mystery while taking the audience on a fascinating and entertaining tour of Zootopia's most dangerous corners.

Like "Elemental," "Zootopia" is a wildly imaginative affair that spares no detail on its characters and setting. It graces the viewer with all sorts of catchy characters, such as Flash Slothmore (Raymond S. Persi), a sloth DMV worker that pokes fun at the department's slow service. Both movies also explore the topic of discrimination — "Elemental" with the way the other groups shun the potentially destructive fire elementals, and "Zootopia" through the public's increasing fear of the predators.

If the fish-out-of-water spirit of "Elemental" is your thing, look no further than Pixar's "Luca," which offers an even more literal interpretation of the theme. The movie's story centers around a pair of young sea monsters, Luca Paguro (Jacob Tremblay) and Alberto Scorfano (Jack Dylan Grazer), who are able to become human while they're out of water. Much to the chagrin of the sea monster community, they use this ability to have adventures among the people and even befriend the human Giulia Marcovaldo (Emma Berman). Unavoidably, the two cultures clash.

"Luca" is a period piece set in 1950s Italy and, as such, takes the audience to a new and charming place, much like "Elemental" does. Complete that with similar themes and otherworldly elements, and the 2021 movie makes a fine companion piece to the newer "Elemental" — and it doesn't hurt that "Luca" is a quality film that received rave reviews from critics.

Pixar's 2017 fantasy comedy-drama "Coco" features many elements that fans of "Elemental" may find alluring. Both movies tell a story of prejudices and how to overcome them, but "Coco" takes a different path to its ultimate destination. The film's main character is young Miguel Rivera (Anthony González), an aspiring musician whose life is challenging thanks to Abuelita Elena (Renée Victor), who upholds the family's generations-long bias against music in all its forms. Miguel's rebellion against this rule sends him on an adventure in the world of the dead, which he must escape by acquiring a blessing from a deceased blood relative.

A tale of two worlds, literally, "Coco" explores the fates of both Miguel and his ancestors and slowly reveals the truth behind the betrayal that caused Miguel's ancestor Imelda (Alanna Ubach) to turn her back on the family's musical heritage. Like "Elemental," the film features love, loss, and various other subjects combined with entertainingly sticky situations, all unfolding in a uniquely imaginative "Day of the Dead"-themed setting.

Antonio Banderas' feline fairy tale adventurer Puss in Boots started out as a fun supporting character in "Shrek 2," but in 2011, he broke out as a star of his own spin-off movie. "Puss in Boots" is a far more mature and swashbuckling take on the "Shrek" mythos, which allows it to be a reasonably traditional adventure story while still benefitting from the franchise's unorthodox interpretations of classic fairy tale characters.

While "Elemental" features far less swordplay than "Puss in Boots," the two movies share the central concept of telling a fairly normal story that simply happens to take place in a highly fantastic setting. They also both showcase an uneasy, developing romance between the central couple — here, between Puss in Boots and fellow action cat Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek). As a bonus, watching "Puss in Boots" is the perfect set-up for the even better sequel, "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish," so this is really two good movie recommendations for the price of one. If that's not enough to sate your appetite, there are also six seasons of  "The Adventures of Puss in Boots" series on Netflix.

Few animated movies match the combination of "Elemental's" fantastic creatures and urban setting as well as 2020's "Onward," another Pixar jam. Set in a world that was once full of sword-and-sorcery fantasy but has since become a largely mundane and magic-free land with a 1980s aesthetic, "Onward" tells the story of recently orphaned elf brothers Ian (Tom Holland) and Barney Lightfoot (Chris Pratt). The pair decide to use ancient magic to spend one more day with their dead father Wilden (Kyle Bornheimer), but, predictably enough, things don't work out quite like they planned.

"Onward" is a moving, relatively low-key, and highly personal tale that was inspired by the death of writer-director Dan Scanlon's own father. As such, the emotions it invokes are different — and quite a bit deeper and darker — than what "Elemental" offers. Nevertheless, the two movies' deft combination of fantastic elements and urban environments is a connection that "Elemental" fans shouldn't ignore.

If both "Onward" and "Coco" seem like they're not quite there when it comes to the way they handle loss and unreal environments, you might want to check out "Soul." Our next Pixar suggestion for "Elemental" fans is a comedy-drama with strong music elements that tells the story about an aspiring jazz musician called Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx). After Joe dies and attempts to escape from the Great Beyond to resume his pursuit of music, he accidentally becomes a spirit mentor for an unborn soul simply known as 22 (Tina Fey).

Joe and 22 make an odd pairing, and while their relationship is far from romantic, it's easily as nuanced as Ember and Wade's in "Elemental." The mutual respect they develop over the course of the movie is also similar to the elemental couple's, as are Joe's kindness and 22's potential for destruction. Large parts of "Soul" also take part on a plane of reality known as the Great Before, a minimalist pastel-hued location that's every bit as imaginative as the eye-popping Element City.

2015's DreamWorks animated comedy "Home" reverses the classic "E.T." combination of humans trying to hide a lone alien from the authorities by starting its story with a full-on alien invasion. As the alien Boovs move the entire human race to Australia and take over the planet, a particular Boov named Oh (Jim Parsons) ends up protecting a human girl called Tip (Rihanna) and her cat from fellow alien invaders. Meanwhile, the Boov are also trying to fend off a second invasion of another, stronger alien race that Oh inadvertently summons to Earth.

Oh and Tip make for a fun comedic pairing, and the major plot line of the Boov basically assuming that humans are backwards creatures who can easily be relocated to a continent-sized theme park ghetto is similar to the "Elemental" society's struggle to accept the fire elementals. Combined with all the other things only adults are likely to notice in "Home," these elements make the film a worthy companion to the similarly deceptive depths of "Elemental."