Elio (United States, 2025)

Long story short: Elio is a good film for kids, maybe not so great for adults. That doesn’t sound like Pixar, which has developed a reputation for the “two tiered” approach: movies capable of engaging children while reaching their parents on another level. Think Toy Stoy 3, The Incredibles, and Inside Out – three of the best 21st century American animated films. Elio, on the other hand, feels less like Pixar and more like the kind of generic films being churned out by rival animation companies.

The reason for this may have more to do with the creative team working on the film. Aside from Pete Docter, the veteran figure behind many of Pixar’s greatest hits, there’s not a long-term Pixar name on the roster – and Docter’s Executive Producer title is more of an honorarium than an indication he had a hand in the development of the screenplay. Co-director Domee Shi has some experience but her previous endeavor, Turning Red, remains one of the studio’s COVID-influenced “lost movies.” And, although Turning Red was a better film than it is often given credit for, it was by no means a modern classic. Co-director Madeline Sharafian has experience working as an animator but this is her first feature effort. I guess a passing of the baton has occurred with the generation of filmmakers who openly spoke of their reverence for Hayao Miyazaki giving way to those whose technical proficiency outstrips other aspects of their game.

One problem with Elio is that the narrative is burdened by a cartoony feel. That might seem like a genre requirement but the best animated films transcend such limitations. The stakes never seem particularly high, even though they involve galactic domination, and the action sequences are rote and uninspired. The big debris-dodging sequence, with its extreme use of a deus ex machina, provokes yawns. On an emotional level, Elio occasionally hits paydirt – such as a scene in which the title character ponders whether everyone who ever wanted him is dead. But the characters struggle to attain a degree of three-dimensionality that would make elements like friendship and family feel more organic and less manipulative. It will work for younger viewers but perhaps not for older ones.

On a practical level, Elio faces strong headwinds on two fronts. First, Disney-released animated movies tend to do better at the box office when the main character is female. It’s not a hard-and-fast rule but last year’s two animated behemoths, Inside Out 2 and Moana 2, focused on girls. Space-based science fiction has also been a hard sell in animation. The road to box office doom is littered with the likes of Strange World, Lightyear, Treasure Planet, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and Big Hero 6.

The movie follows the misadventures of 11-year-old Elio Solis (Yonas Kibreab), whose parents have recently died, making him the ward of his Air Force major aunt, Olga (Zoe Saldana). In order to care for Elio, Olga gives up her dream of becoming an astronaut and her sacrifice weighs heavily on the boy who is already shouldering the fear that he is unwanted and friendless. Elio decides that his best hope is a fresh start – not on Earth but by being abducted by aliens. Elio’s first attempts to induce the abduction, which include using a ham radio to attract attention, meet with failure but, while he’s at camp, a spaceship appears and whisks him away to the Communiverse, mistaking him for Earth’s ambassador.

Forced to prove himself in order to stay, Elio must negotiate peace with the belligerent galactic warlord, Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett). Diplomacy goes nowhere and Elio is thrown in prison. During his escape, he encounters (and abducts) Grigon’s larval son, Glordon (Remy Edgerly), who becomes an enthusiastic and willing “bargaining chip.” Once back at the Communiverse, Elio is able to arrange for Glordon’s return in exchange for Grigon’s pledge of non-belligerence. Of course, nothing goes according to plan.

Narrative weaknesses aside, no one can deny that Elio boasts some of Pixar’s most eye-popping visuals to-date. When one considers the studio’s impressive and varied catalog, that’s a lofty statement indeed. The movie is chock-full of “wow!” moments and it’s not just the space-based scenes. Even some of the more prosaic Earthly sequences are imbued with subtle beauty. Rob Simonsen’s traditional score is one of the strongest in recent Disney history, boasting strains that echo the work of the late, great Jerry Goldsmith. (I’d be curious to learn why the lone pop song on the soundtrack is the Talking Heads’ “Once In a Lifetime”, which seems a little out of place.) One just wishes that bones of the story had been as strong as the animation.

I was rooting for Elio, in large part because it represents an opportunity for an original property to break through the depressingly low ceiling that currently exists for non-franchise titles. Alas, the movie simply isn’t good enough to validate that hope. It’s hard to see the movie as being more than a stopgap between highly anticipated releases. Maybe it will find an audience when it shows up on Disney+. Until then, it’s a reasonable way to get out of the heat for a few hours and give your kid a treat but don’t expect to get as much out of it as you would if you were part of the under-10 crowd.

Elio (United States, 2025)