'Elio' Review: A Stellar Surprise With A Galaxy-Sized Heart
Pixar’s latest is a small breath of fresh air amidst a rapidly homogenizing stream of family films
Pixar became a decades-strong cultural institution by creating groundbreaking computer animated films, which from a pure programming perspective, operated as ‘family’ movies. Pixar’s films were, and still are, palatable for children and youth of all ages, as most theatrically animated projects in Hollywood tend to skew. Their latest, Elio, is no exception. Yet, therein lies a specific unwritten agreement with an audience that separates Pixar from many of its contemporary studios, and more recently, with the lowest common denominators of the animated medium.
The proverbial ‘Pixar Promise,’ so to speak, provides audiences with the general expectation of an original animated film, and a series of hallmarks. Memorable and merchandisable leads, eye-popping visuals and lightheartedness to appeal to kids, and also a strong emotional core and message that is sure to land with children, adults, and all folks of all ages, with a sappily effective score guiding the audience along. It seems disingenuous to reduce Pixar to such microcosmic terms, even for the sake of analogy as I’m doing here. Yet, Elio making good on the proverbial Pixar promise is not to diminish its own individual merits, and in fact serves as a reminder of how Pixar’s promise is still needed, now more than ever. The sole family programming in theatres this year, this far at least, seems to be uninspired live-action remakes of animated successes, such as How to Train Your Dragon and Lilo and Stitch, or adaptations of existing source material popular with a young demographic, such as Minecraft or Dog Man.
As you’ve probably garnered by the title of this article, Elio is a cinematic breath of fresh air. The film is an original sci-fi story that follows the titular lead, Elio Solis (Yonas Kibreab) an eleven-year old boy with an affinity for all things cosmic. Elio lives with his aunt, Olga Selis (Zoe Saldaña), a Major in the US Space Force, who cares for her orphaned nephew Elio. Elio searches for life amongst the cosmos, and believes he is better suited to find a place for himself in outer space, due to his rift with his aunt.
The film’s main premise sees Elio beamed up to outer space, as he is mistaken as Earth’s Ambassador by a sort of intergalactic United Nations, called the Communiverse. From here, the film trades in the more Spielbergian tone of the opening act for some ‘fish out of water’ comedy, which proves effective. The elaborate sci-fi world of the Communiverse is visually striking, with many unique and comedic character/environment designs. The sense of child-like wonder helps to accentuate this unique setting, and while it may not be deeply fleshed out, as the film only runs ninety minutes, the Communiverse proves to be a rather fun setting. The same can be said for the film’s sci-fi plot at large, which is relatively simple and harkens on a more light, child-like amalgamation of various iconic sci-fi films. The film visually homages the likes of The Phantom Menace, The Thing, Terminator II, and many others, all in ways that feel organic, and again, quite fun.
The film’s emotional core comes in the form of the aforementioned relationship between Elio and his Aunt Olga, which is a strong core. The loss of Elio’s parents and Elio feeling like a burden to Olga is one of the more unique and frankly interesting child-adult dynamics in Pixar’s canon, and while the film as we know is not a drama about the subject, it does a nice enough job at making the relationship effective, and really emotionally touching. The film gains another key emotional hook with its incorporation of astronomer Carl Sagan’s philosophies, going as far as to include actual excerpts of Sagan speaking. Sagan’s approach to astronomy always had a sort of humanist basis on thinking, something that Elio does not lose sight of, effectively balancing both its stellar and intimate elements.
During his cosmic journey, Elio befriends Glordon, (Remy Edgerley) a worm-like creature who is the son of the film’s antagonist, alien warlord Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett). Glordon and Elio’s dynamic is a highlight of the film, with younger audiences sure to appreciate the more comedic moments that arise from the unlikely pairing, and with the duo’s journeys in terms of parental relationships having a neat little juxtaposition. Glordon’s arc in its own right provides a nice message about toxic masculinity as it relates to boyhood, one that is simple enough to be grasped by a younger audience, but is not undercut by the fact that it is coming from a worm-looking creature. Garrett is terrific as Grigon, and revels in the comedy of a very pastiche-heavy, purposefully derivative antagonist.
While it may not reach the heights of the studio’s previous accomplishments, Elio is rather stellar in its own right, all things considered. The film was initially conceived of by director Adrian Molina (Coco) drawing from his own experiences. Though Molina would end up leaving the project, with Domee Shi (Turning Red) stepping in to finish the film, this drastic change is not reflected in the final cut of Elio. The film manages to feel very singular, coherent, and ultimately personal. It’s these kind of feelings that keep Pixar as a special force in the world of animation and film industry at large. Kids deserve their own new stories to experience and grow up with, and should be reminded to dream big, cosmic even, with Elio as a gleaming reminder of all of this.