Elio is Pixar at its most original, delivering an extraordinary journey filled with wholehearted sci-fi wonder. Director Domee Shi and co-director Madeline Sharafian craft a timeless coming-of-age adventure that’s a solid follow-up to their fan fave Turning Redmarking a new standard for Pixar stories.
Through its main character’s close encounter, the film cleverly broaches the resonating experience of feeling alone against a backdrop of imaginative visuals illustrating the universe’s enormity. It captures the desire we have to find meaning not just across the stars but in the face of loss, which can feel just as isolating as being lost in space. It’s what Elio (Yonas Kibreab) feels when he’s taken in by his aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña) as he goes through the unimaginable pain of losing his parents at a young age. His existential trauma plays into his hyper-fixation with aliens and getting beamed away from his troubles on Earth, which include a few bullies and being made fun of for making crop circles in the sand. Meanwhile his aunt, who works on military base as a space debris tracker, masks her grief by throwing herself into work to provide for her nephew.
Elio’s life takes a turn when his dreams are realized and he makes first contact with aliens through his prototypical radio signal device. It’s very endearingly Amblin in that way, having kids on a base running around and getting their hands on government tech to get inventive while bored. It’s how Elio almost befriends a fellow military kid, but he just happens to get beamed up alone before they get in trouble. It’s from here that Elio kind of gets everything he wanted: he’s transported to the hub of the Communiverse, a galactic alliance of the most peaceful lifeforms in space that has mistaken Elio as Earth’s representative petitioning membership.
However, an encounter with the domineering Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett) sees Elio whisked into an adventure he could never have imagined, forced to stand up against Grigon’s hostile attempts to join the Communiverse by force. Finding himself making friends with Grigon’s estranged son Glordon (Remy Edgerly), Elio has to save the day and learn how to form a bond with his unlikely new friend—and realize that some traumas are universal experiences, whether it’s for humans or aliens.
The developing bond between these two young kids from literally different worlds is what gives Elio its excellent heart, one that shines alongside the spectacle of its lush imagining of a sci-fi universe. The film is filled with gorgeous details, but one of the best visual gags has a touching resonance with the film’s wider themes, in a scene where clones of Elio and Glordon are returned to their loved ones to take their place, hoping to go undetected. This best-laid plan falls hilariously apart as the guardians re-evaluate their own journeys through grief opposite the impostor kids, mirroring their own experiences to the young boys. That said, it’s also paradoxically a moment that features a quick move to something that feels legitimately spooky and gross for a Pixar movie—perhaps a genre the studio could explore at a later date.
Shi and the animator’s choices to really emphasize and stylize the way Elio‘s characters convey raw emotions through a fuller range across their faces, which we first saw in Turning Redthat shines on full display here. Glordon doesn’t even have eyes and I was sobbing at his pure innocence. The character designs have really evolved and continue to elevate Pixar’s signature expressiveness, and Kibreab and Edgerly’s chemistry anchors the film to deliver a heartwarming tale of grief and friendship.
Elio ties it all together culminating in a powerfully moving and awe-inspiring reminder that life with those we love is such a worthwhile experience. Yes, you will shed those Pixar tears, but mostly in a feel-good way because of the sheer abundance of wonder the movie evokes. Elio traverses a universe of overwhelming vastness that’s presented as both beautiful and hard to feel a part of no matter how old you are. And that at our core anyone deserves to find community; whether it’s near or far, people just have to reach out to each other.
Elio opens in theaters June 20.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
