I got to see this movie in advance of it being released at the cinema, thanks to Cineworld having a secret screening.
I’m actually glad I got to see this movie. I did see the trailer, but it wasn’t one that immediately grabbed my attention. It was one I might have gone to see if there was nothing else on at the cinema I wanted to watch, but I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to see it…which would have been a shame, as I actually really enjoyed this movie.
I found Ember to be a really relatable character…perhaps because I’ve been working in retail for so long and could 100% understand her blowing up at the customers who were acting so entitled. I really did enjoy learning about her back story, with her parents coming to Element City…and having to deal with prejudice from the other elements. Considering that water could actually be so destructive to fire, it was a little surprising to see that Element City was so heavily geared towards the water element…but then again, I guess fire was the only element that could be outright harmed by water; though as Ember pointed out, fire could just as easily cause water to evaporate.
I really liked the growing relationship that formed between Ember and Wade. Considering that it started out as fraught with conflict…and that’s not even counting the animosity between water and fire in general…I felt that the feelings growing between them was shown really well. It was also good to see that not all of the water elementals were the jerks who had been seen at the beginning. Wade and his family were really interesting characters and his mom was really sweet. I honestly loved how easily and readily she accepted Ember and Wade’s feelings for her.
I did like a lot of the secondary characters, such as Ember’s parents and Gale. While the main movie was about Ember and Wade, I thought that there was a lot of attention paid to developing the other characters. Plus, there was no real ‘villain’ of the movie, which I don’t get to see very often even in movies only aimed at adults.
I did love the visuals of this movie, too, and getting to see the different areas of Element City. I also thought that it was a nice touch to have Cinder do fortune telling and use the smoke to see the compatability between a couple…and I really loved how that was handled when it came to Ember and Wade.
All in all, I really enjoyed this movie. It was a lot of fun and provided escapism for a couple of hours. It’s definitely worth watching if you’re on the fence about it!
Ink of Blood 