Directed By Adrian Molina, Madeline Sharafian, and Domee Shi

Starring – Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett

The Plot – Elio (Kibreab), a space fanatic with an active imagination, finds himself on a cosmic misadventure where he must form new bonds with alien lifeforms, navigate a crisis of intergalactic proportions and somehow discover who he is truly meant to be.

Rated PG for some action/peril and thematic elements.

Elio | Official Trailer

POSITIVES

On the surface, “Elio” looks like just another adventurous escape to space, with colorful textures and quirky characters to capture the attention of youthful audiences alike, but like most of the films in the Pixar library, there’s deeper concepts at play here that make the substance even more alluring than what’s immediately present to the interpretation, making this an entertainingly endearing engagement that recaptures some of the studio’s most thought-provoking substance. Being that we’re immediately introduced to the titular protagonist after a crippling tragedy, the script vividly taps into themes corresponding with grief, legacy, and especially belonging that each tap into the universal language of humanity that everyone can relate to, each with maturely honest insights into the opportunistic impulses that certainly make the film feel a lot deeper and occasionally darker than PG animated films are typically capable of rendering, all the while unlocking an intergalactic plunge in world-building that felt fully fleshed out with detailed concepts. Aside from the space age technology, with super cool gadgets that effortlessly appraise convenience to its captors, the scope and spectrum of Molina’s presentation intentionally make Elio feel vulnerably small in the grand scheme of things, with an overriding irony towards the boy traveling millions of miles in order to seek resolution to internalized conflicts that are very grounded in intimacy. While there are some inconsistencies with the characters that I will get to later, the warm embrace of acceptance and adoration make the secondary setting all the more alluring, with complexities among its own familial dynamics that prove such universal themes are present everywhere. If this isn’t enough, the animation is once again an ocular entrancement of intoxicating colors and imaginatively elaborate designs, as expected with Pixar, giving so much shape and grandeur to the presentation that demands to be seen on the biggest screen conceivable. What’s especially evident here is the variety of lighting schemes that colors these backdrops with such a transfixing radiance, both with ultraviolet rays and weaponry beams that elicit a luscious glow to the spacey scenic splendor, breeding such a unique identity in its world, even for a studio in its 29th cinematic installment. If this isn’t enough, the music compositions from Rob Simonsen tenderly tickle your heart with a three-course emotional buffet that underline so many tenderly vulnerable sequences, particularly those within the sensitive dynamic between Elio and his auntie Olga, which serve as the most meaningfully complex of the entire engagement. Because our protagonist’s plight pertains to grief, there is an element of longing that persists within Elio’s moments of environmental isolation, but Simonsen never composes themes that directly feel like a wet blanket on the atmospheres of the engagement, instead utilizing enough of the optimistic wonder in the evolution of the tracks to keep the dream within him alive, despite being met with so much overwhelming emotion, and this balance ultimately gives the themes enough wiggle room to adapt to the dimensions that they’re casually playing off of within the integrity of the scenes they accompany, staying as far away from repetition, in the way that plague so many other contemporary kids movies. As for performances, there’s colorful work elicited from everyone in the ensemble, with film veterans like Saldana and Garrett shining in doses, while Kibreab steals the spotlight. Being that this is 14-year-old Yonas Kibreab’s feature length debut, after nearly a decade of television, it’s remarkable what he’s able to deliver to the integrity of Elio’s definition, with just enough cuteness and naivety that plays especially well to the character’s vulnerability, but also a childlike innocence that makes it impossible not to invest in him. For my money, Kibreab’s best moments are when the character is forced to confront painful truths about himself, with Yonas effectively eliciting a naturalistic remorse that not only feels decades ahead of his limited experience as an actor, but also works connectively within the integrity of the aforementioned animation, in order to bring the character to life with the kind of accessibility that is judged on relatability. As for Zoe Saldana and Brad Garrett, they each add so much tangibility to the depths of their respective characters, with the former constantly overwhelmed by emotional exhilaration of being forced to take on a kid, while the latter eagerly embellishes in the gruff grogginess of his vocal familiarities, and the result are these three-dimensional portrayals that evade even the most limited of outlined arcs, inscribing such legitimacy and presence to their valued work.

NEGATIVES

While “Elio” is definitely my favorite Pixar film since the original “Moana”, it isn’t without issues, particularly in the depths of its screenplay, which for the opening act feels at odds with its 94-minute runtime. I say this because so much of the movie’s first half is rooted in clunkily long-winded expositional set-up that doesn’t always allow us to experience this world as intended, and while every scene or line of dialogue assembled here eventually plays into something meaningful within the deliveries of the movie, it was definitely the moments where my patience in the production of the storytelling was fleeting, even if nothing entirely compromising to the movie’s integrity. Beyond this, the movie introduces a lot of characters on Earth and in space, which leave each of them continuously shuffling for time within the movie’s development, and while the performances are solid from everyone involved, I could’ve used more time to flesh some of them out a bit firmer, particularly Olga, whom the script is never interested in approaching her grief about losing someone just as pivotal to her as they were to Elio. While most of Olga’s arc pertains to her re-establishing a connection with the mentally and physically distant Elio, the script’s inability to tap into a vulnerable side of her own makes her feel all the more unrealized in comparison to her youthful counterpart, and I think it’s a dramatic misstep considering she is meant to represent the foundation at home that Elio feels conflicted by, making me wish ten additional minutes were added in this arc of Olga rediscovering just what about Elio that she can’t live without. Finally, while the movie’s emotional underlining typically reach an effectiveness with the audience, the shifts themselves from playfully chaotic to sternly dramatic feel a bit abruptly sharp in their materializing, leading to a bit of tediousness within the material that at times feels a bit opportunistic in the naturalism of the scenes they accompany. Admittedly, I’m a sucker for heart in the dimensions of a broken family narrative, but I think the script reaches a bit too often for the dramatic drifts, even when it doesn’t always fully earn them, taking away some of the air from a third act pay-off that feels taxing by that point.

OVERALL
“Elio” doesn’t soar to the most emotionally ambitious heights of the cherished Pixar library, but it is a tenderly vulnerable and adventurously engaging return to form, paid off breathlessly by some of the year’s best animation bringing scope and spectacle to space. Orbiting a conventional narrative about finding home by traveling far from it, the story in reality is about isolated loneliness and belonging in the depths of a reeling boy seeking a place where he comfortably fits in, and with a career-making turn from Yonas Kibreab to its benefit, the movie has enough compassion and earnestness in its tank for the intergalactic voyage ahead, offering a space adventure that shoots for the stars, but ultimately lands on the heart

My Grade: 8.1 or B