Makers of 'Elemental' explore family, tolerance and movement

“Elemental’’ director Peter Sohn says his parents ignited the spark for the upcoming Disney and Pixar animated film. “I saw them, and I was very emotional thanking them for all the sacrifices,” Sohn said in a recent video call interview for “Elemental,’’ a film about a family of fire elements who migrate to Element City, a place where there are also inhabitants of water, air and earth. “This is one of the most complex projects I think we’ve worked on at Pixar, just because of that; we are used to animating humans or animals, and you have references for that, but in this case, we were trying to figure out how a character made of fire or water would move,” said Colombian animator Luis Uribe Córdoba. “I think “Elemental” is a very special film because it’s about Ember kind of coming to face who she is and what she wants to do; if she wants to pursue her path or if she wants to kind of stay close to her roots and her family and what people expect her to be,” said Assadourian. “Wade changes Ember, or he kind of awakens her to say, ‘there’s so much more you can do with your life.’” Sohn, who in addition to being a director is an animator, voice actor and artist, previously directed “The Good Dinosaur” and has collaborated on multiple Pixar films such as “Incredibles 2," “Ratatouille,” “Finding Nemo,” “Up,” “Toy Story 3” and “WALL E.” But “Elemental” is the most personal story in which he has been involved.