Elio (2025)

As has become all too common for Pixar, this gets mixed reviews. From what I gathered, the strongest complaints pertained to earlier plans to gay-code the 11-year-old protagonist; people either resented the change or thought it wasn't complete enough. I decided that the best approach was to forget all about the reported rough draft while watching.

We don't know how Elio Solís (Yonas Kibreab) lost his parents, but he doesn't cope well, and caretaker Aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña) expresses so much frustration that he assumes nobody on Earth wants him. He repeatedly tries to signal for aliens to take him away -- and finally makes contact, via Olga's Air Force equipment, with the Communiverse, akin to a galactic UN. Believing that Elio leads Earth, the ETs beam him up and send a shapeshifting doppelganger back. But under the circumstances, they will not let him stay on as an ambassador unless he can talk envious warlord Grigon (Brad Garrett) into not taking over the Communiverse. Elio's best hope lies in Grigon's friendly young son, Glordon (Remy Edgerly).

For all the predictable elements, several things that I expected to happen don't. The double consistently has Elio's best interests at heart (if that's the right word). Despite increasing human awareness of signs, the general public never learns that aliens exist. Even when some of the action returns to Earth, Grigon never threatens the planet.

Speaking of "action," you'll notice that I didn't add that tag to this post. Grigon does more posturing than serious violence, and none of the good guys even consider attacking him. Elio does fight a bully early on, but he regrets it, as evidenced by the temporary eyepatch he sports for most of the picture. If you're looking for a pacifist story, here you go; if it goes against your sensibilities, you'd better muster patience for unearned forgiveness.

Good thing Elio can still see out of one eye, because there are a lot of interesting visuals to behold among the aliens and their tech. Even Glordon, who resembles a giant bug, manages to be cute. Unfortunately, it's hard to sightsee at the pace of a kiddie adventure.

The movie works better as a comedy-drama. The bulk of the humor stems from interspecies misunderstandings. The best drama is in the interactions between Elio and Olga, vaguely mirrored by Glordon and Grigon. At first I was reminded of Mei and Ming in Turning Red, partly because Elio's unruliness could be really annoying. But this story is more sympathetic to the adult side, and I perceive a more agreeable moral.

You need fairly youthful taste to fully enjoy Elio, but the same could be said for several Pixar classics. I found it a worthy way to kill 98 minutes.