Elemental, the Pixar animated film that has been released on Disney+ has left many fans puzzled.
Elemental is now available on Disney+ to be watched by fans at home. After being a sleeper hit in the summer blockbuster season, it was a big surprise. However, confusion has emerged surrounding the film’s cast and an apparent role held by Eddie Murphy.
Element’s Eddie Murphy casting confusion
Unlike watching a movie in the theater, where using a phone is frowned upon, streaming a film at home means fans are free to Google the movie to their heart’s content to look up elements such as the cast or the meaning of a certain phrase in a newly constructed language.
In the case of Elemental, fans have been busy delving into the film’s star-studded voice cast and the Google cast list for the Pixar movie has caused no small amount of confusion thanks to the inclusion of Eddie Murphy.
That’s because the beloved actor and comedian, whose best-known voice work has come as Donkey in the Shrek franchise, is not actually in the Pixar movie.
What causes the casting dilemma?
The Eddie Murphy and Elemental casting mystery stems from an incorrect IMDb cast list that emerged in July 2022, before the film’s cast was officially announced by Pixar.
As anyone with a movie database account is able to edit the IMDb pages, it’s not unusual to see inaccurate casting lists before announcements.
Reported by a Selena Gomez fan account on X (aka Twitter), the likely fan-man cast list included Selena Gomez, Amy Adams, Zach Braff, Nick Nolte and Josh Gad among the Elemental cast – as well as Murphy, of course – none of whom ended up in the movie itself.
But while none of the other actors appear in Google’s cast list for Elemental, Eddie Murphy is still present, causing more than a few fans to scratch their heads when looking into the film’s voice actors.
Eddie Murphy’s last Disney role
If Eddie Murphy had actually been cast in Elemental, it would have marked his first role in an animated Disney film since 1998’s Mulan where he voiced the dragon character, Mushu.
Murphy was unable to reprise the role in 2005’s Mulan II as he was under contract with DreamWorks having taken on the role of Donkey in the Shrek movies.
There will be a Donkey movie, a Shrek 5th film, and even a Shrek spinoff. reportedly in the works following the success of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, it’s unlikely that Eddie Murphy will be free to appear in a Disney film for quite some time yet.
Elemental is Streaming is available Disney+ is expected to launch on Disney+ on or around September 13, 2023.