Review: Elio

Directors:  Domee Shi, Madeline Sharafian, Adrian Molina

Voice Stars:  Zoe Saldaña, Yonas Kibreab, Jameela Jamil

Pixar’s stock may have dropped a little in recent years as its defining generation have grown older and the ‘wow’ factor has diminished, but that doesn’t mean there’s not promise remaining at the venerated animation studio. Recent misfires like Elemental and Onward haven’t helped any, but it’s heartening to see that they haven’t veered completely to the safety of endless sequels (even if the box office for disappointing retread Inside Out 2 broke all previous records). Domee Shi might be the best asset the studio presently has. Her Turning Red showed the kind of originality that Pixar used to be known for, and its a shame that Disney constrained it to the anonymity of their streaming platform.

Her second feature for them – made in collaboration with Madeline Sharafian and Adrian Molina – makes strident attempts to recapture that ‘wow’ factor, looking to the stars for inspiration. Elio connects spiritually to the Amblin adventures of the ’80s, feeling betrothed to the likes of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial or Flight of the Navigator. It also takes a welcome cue from Toy Story 4 and even allows itself to be a little scary. A little light horror used to be par for the course in family movies as anyone who grew up with Return to Oz will attest. 

The story concerns hyperactive nerdy orphan Elio (Yonas Kibreab), a loner kid, dissatisfied with life of Earth, who longs to be abducted by aliens. His guardian, Aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña), works on a military base dedicated to analysing space debris, a connection which hasn’t exactly quelled Elio’s enthusiastic search for contact. One evening his wish is fulfilled and he’s whisked away by an alien craft to the Communiverse; a kind of fluffy intergalactic UN where he’s mistaken for our planetary leader. Here, in a world beyond his imagination, he befriends Glordon (Remy Edgerly), the larval son of space warlord Grigon (Brad Garrett) as the slew of mix-ups snowball. 

Elio bids for our sense of wonder at the heavens from its very beginning, teeing off with the Voyager launch and the genuine recordings sent out into the infinite in the 1970s, when space travel still retained its last semblance of hope and possibility. “You are not alone” is among its defining messages, and its the one that Elio attaches itself to most keenly. Elio’s self-worth has been damaged by loss and rejection, and he assumes he won’t be missed as he adventures across the galaxy. Olga’s stress with him is nothing compared to her loneliness without, and older viewers will appreciate her pangs of pain. The movie’s endgame is pre-written, but the three directors ensure the journey there is entertaining.

The dual themes of discovering your self-worth as well as your value to others aren’t the only ideas Elio has its eye on, and it sometimes feels as though the movie is being torn this way and that, possibly between its three directors. Still, a third splinter investigating ideas of toxic masculinity via hard veneers that literally imprison Grigon and his kind is a welcome one, teaching young males valuable lessons about sensitivity and openness. It all culminates in a touching sequence only slightly marred by the consideration that the animation probably went through several phases of vetting to stop it looking like two flaccid penises cuddling one another. I apologise. You won’t un-see it. 

Visually it’s as one would expect from Pixar by now, maybe to a fault. There are no great evolutionary upgrades in sight, and the human character designs are the simple, pudgy figures we’ve grown used to. Imagination is let loose more abundantly when we hang out at the Communiverse, although most creatures adhere to some animalistic blueprint. Those that don’t, inevitably, are the more visually interesting. Grigon’s design, his parental woes and even Garrett’s vocal turn are distinctly reminiscent of Garmadon from The LEGO Ninjago Movie (from which Elio also steals its most persistent running joke).

There are some more imaginative and playful gags along the way (which help counter the unfortunate fatigue that sets in from too much time in Elio’s abrasive company) but its the way the film makes room for quietude, reflection and earned sentiment that marks it out as a Pixar movie. I rarely attend U or PG certificate animated films anymore, but the slew of trailers for American cartoons that played before Elio served as a reminder that, even mid-tier, the studio operates on a far more sophisticated level, and we should be thankful for that.

The top brass of Pixar titles (Rataouille, Finding Nemo, WALL•E and Inside Out) remain comfortably undisturbed, but Elio sits high-up in the second tier, right alongside Domee Shi’s Turning Red. If such a mixture of heart and imagination can be maintained and expanded upon, there’s no reason to doubt that a future title might still break into those upper echelons again.