Elio Review: Pixar's Cute Aliens Can't Save A Predictable Story
- Adorable and visually interesting space creatures
- Compelling storyline between Glordon and his dad
- Generic narrative
- Ugly animation style for human characters
In a lot of ways, "Elio" feels like a rote Pixar experience. That's not necessarily a bad thing — there are plenty of nice aspects even to a bog-standard Pixar film. But for every unique choice that could elevate "Elio" into rarefied air within the genre, there's an equally disappointing element that feels lazy or poorly conceived to drag it right back down again. The result is a cute but uneven production that doesn't live up to its impressively imaginative concepts.
It's easy to understand why Elio (Yonas Kibreab) is fascinated by the idea of the existence of aliens. After the death of his parents, he feels particularly alone in the world, and the prospect of some other beings out in space makes him feel like there could be somewhere where he would actually belong. He certainly hasn't found that living with his aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña), an ambitious orbital analyst who has put some of her career dreams on hold to take care of Elio, and seems out of her depth as an ersatz parental figure. Despite her best efforts, Elio can't help but feel like his mere presence makes him a burden to her.
So he longs for an alien abduction. And one day, he manages to sneakily transmit a message into space — one that leads members of the Communiverse to think that he speaks for the entire planet Earth. When he's brought to their space compound as a prospective candidate for admission into the group, he's so overjoyed at the possibility that he allows them to continue believing he's the leader of Earth. And he almost gets away with it, too — until he's forced to confront the warlike Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett). But how can Elio protect the Communiverse from Grigon, while also helping Grigon's decidedly less combative son Glordon (Remy Edgerly) stand up to his father?
Animation that's either gorgeous or boring, nothing in between
Right off the bat, one of the first things we noticed about "Elio" is how mismatched its animation style is. The space vistas are breathtaking, and each of the alien characters are designed with care and a tremendous amount of creativity. (We especially love the race of space worms that Grigon and Glordon are from, pudgy larval creatures who hide their squishy, vulnerable flesh in Iron Man-like war machines when they come of age.) But as inventive as many of the space components are, "Elio" feels as though they really phoned it in with the human characters. Elio and his Earthling counterparts have a generic animation style, and his particular character design makes him look like a toddler.
There are moments in the film where it touches on a weird sense of humor that could give "Elio" a unique identity, especially in dealing with Elio's unnervingly inhuman clone, who is remarkably blasé about his own destruction. Yet although it has these brief eccentric flourishes, it backs away from them fairly quickly in favor of a storyline more content to play it safe. It's a shame, because these are some of its highlights, and especially in a film about a quirky kid obsessed with being abducted by aliens, they shouldn't have been afraid to be a little bit out there.
Narrative woes in spite of a lovely message
"Elio" also feels like it has a three-act structure in need of a little bit of fine-tuning. It spends a lot of time with repetitive sequences early on in the film that hammer home Elio's social isolation and his growing desire to meet aliens, points which we would understand with a 5-minute montage. By the time the plot kicks off in earnest and Elio is traveling through space haphazardly negotiating peace deals, the clock is ticking down. It feels like we don't get to spend nearly enough time with the members of the Communiverse, and the actual space part of the story is rushed. It would have been great to have this either be a slightly longer film (it's just about 90 minutes long, so it has some wiggle room) or have it restructured to spend less time on Earth at the beginning. Because of this, it ends up seeming a little hastily put together, as though it could have benefited from another pass or two in development.
Still, the central message behind "Elio" has all of Pixar's traditional emotional heft. The connection between space exploration — the idea that Earth is alone, desperately seeking contact across the stars — blends beautifully with Elio's aching loneliness after the death of his parents. But as we learn in the film, he's not alone — he will find people who understand him and care about him for who he is. It's a sweet reminder for young viewers, who may not feel as though they fit in at school or at home. And the bonds he forges, especially with the endearing, eternally optimistic Glordon make the point even more compelling.
There's little to dislike about "Elio," but there's little to set our worlds on fire either. It has some memorable characters that are easy to get emotionally attached to (we're pretty sure we need a Glordon plushie, like, yesterday), while others don't get enough screen time to shine or are disappointingly underdeveloped. Although Pixar has long been known for its imaginative creatives and commitment to innovative storytelling, "Elio" is a little safe and generic, as though they were afraid to go out on too far of a limb while they're in an era that has been defined by sequels of previous hits. Still, the emotional beats hit hard, and "Elio" is a pleasant enough way for kids to spend an hour and a half, especially if they're interested in space. It's just a shame that it seems like it pulls back every time it starts to hit on something genuinely interesting.