Elio review: Pixar is back with spectacular space adventure
Whisper it: Pixar is back. After a disastrous pandemic period, where quality films like Soul and Turning Red were buried on streaming, followed by the epic failure of 2022’s Lightyear, the iconic animation studio has got back to something like its best. After Elemental became a sleeper hit in 2023, the masterful Inside Out 2 became the most successful movie in the world last year. Can they keep the momentum going with space tale Elio?
Yonas Kibreab voices the title role of Elio, a seven-year-old mourning the loss of his parents. He is sent to live with his aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña), an overwhelmed army officer, on a military base. Struggling to fit in, the space-obsessed boy calls out to aliens to take him away. They do just that, bringing him to an intergalactic assembly of planets known as The Communiverse, where he is mistaken for Earth’s ambassador. Once there, he is thrust into the task of negotiating with alien tyrant Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett). Making friends with Grigon’s son, Glordon (Remy Edgerly), Elio must avoid disaster while working out where he belongs in the universe.
The film’s stylistic choices can feel a bit familiar at times. Elio himself looks like a mix between Miguel from Coco and the title character from Luca, while the aesthetics of his intergalactic adventures have hints of The Great Before from Soul. This is perhaps a mark of a studio that has established its own style in the thirty years since Toy Story, but while there may be familiar Pixar elements here and there, this is by no means a rehash.
Fundamentally, the film soars thanks to the emotional truth of the story. At its heart, it’s about a lonely little boy who feels different to the outside world, looking for a place where he fits. That theme is delivered consistently and without a drop of cynicism, which leads to the mark of any good Pixar movie – it will undoubtedly make you cry your eyes out at one point.
The Communiverse is populated by excellent voice actors, who have been wisely brought in because they fit the part rather than being a famous name. Kibreab and Edgerly are both marvellous, capturing the boundless enthusiasm of childhood, as well as striking a believable friendship. Supporting characters like Sherley Henderson’s OOOOO, a versatile, liquid supercomputer; and Garrett’s roaring antagonist, give a greater sense of wonder.
On Earth, newly minted Oscar winner Saldaña does an excellent job of conveying the exasperation of looking after a child you’re unprepared for. There are hints that Elio may be neurodivergent, although given that this is a Disney-owned film it’s never explored too deeply. His love for detail and disconnection with those around him are presented as “different”, and in that sense Olga’s role trying to understand that difference is a surprisingly affecting subplot.
New Pixar films can often be hampered by their history, with classics like Up and Wall*E being a benchmark that can feel unfair. Elio is simply a great family film with something to say, with some visual gimmicks that uplift the emotional core. While perhaps not in the pantheon the all-time greats, it’s still at a standard that would make most animation studios envious.
Elio is in cinemas from 20th June