Overview
Elio, a space fanatic with an active imagination, finds himself on a cosmic misadventure where he must form new bonds with eccentric alien lifeforms, navigate a crisis of intergalactic proportions and somehow discover who he is truly meant to be.
After the loss of his parents, young Elio Solis was sent to live with his aunt Olga, an Air Force major who has had to put off her aspirations to be an astronaut to take care of the young boy. As a result the pair don’t appear to have a bond – young Elio feels like he is alone, with his aunt never feeling like family, whilst Olga never wanted the burden of children herself and feels isolated in her own way. However, one thing that they do share – even if they don’t notice it – is a fascination with space and prospect of life on other worlds. For Olga that was why she joined up and aspired to be an astronaut, for Elio it is something more – he wants aliens to come and take him away, believing they can be the family he so desperately wants. So, when a message from outer space is answered by the young boy, he finds himself taken by an intergalactic alliance who are mistaken into believing he is Earth’s leader, just at the same time a galactic warlord threatens the alliance, with the young boy stuck in the middle of it all.
This is Pixar at their creative, and emotive best, with a tale that is cosmically wonderful and vibrant, whilst retaining a grounded emotional core story about family and belonging. Visually this is slick, as expected from the studio, with particular fun designs of the alien races being as wild and wonderful as possible. There are slickly presented moments of wonder or thrill, particularly in the initial exploration of the Communiverse – the Close Encounters-esque world ship the aliens share – and the younger audience members will be swept up in the sheer splendor of it all. Whilst that is going on the older audience members will connect with the topics and themes of identity, belonging, and loneliness that are explored, ensuring a few weeping eyes (or at the very least lumps in throats) as the film swiftly moves towards the final moments.
This is Pixar delivering what Pixar generally do so well, and whilst not in the top tier of the studio’s output, it still demonstrates how they are masters of storytelling for all ages. A strong voice cast grant life to the many species on offer, and the overall feel of the film reminded me of the magic of films such as Flight of the Navigator, ET, and other such 80s ‘boy meets alien’ films of that era.
Don’t let this be another Pixar film that you eventually watch on streaming and regret not seeing on the big screen – Elio is deserving of your time.
