This review contains spoilers.
“Are we alone?” asks Pixar’s latest animated feature, “Elio.” The alien-obsessed titular character thinks that we’re not.
Elio (voiced by Yonas Kibreab) is obsessed with becoming abducted by aliens after the death of his parents. He lives with his aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña), an Air Force major who gave up her dreams of becoming an astronaut to care for Elio. Still, the pair struggles to understand each other.
By accident, Elio encounters the Communiverse, an intergalactic coalition of the universe’s greatest minds. As the self-appointed ambassador for Earth, he falls in love with life among the stars. However, Elio draws the ire of space leader Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett) — Grigon, rejected from the Communiverse, vows his revenge on the collective. To stop him, Elio befriends Glordon (Remy Edgerly), Grigon’s son, and together they learn to find their places in the cosmos.
It sounds wacky, and it is, but the film succeeds in portraying the nuanced ways we might feel solitude. Being misunderstood, pressured to conform or feeling lost in life — they’re all things the movie breaches without sounding overly serious or sappy.
The thematic resonance of friendship and family underpins a story brought to life by an atmospheric score and beautiful cinematography. The music just seems to swell in the right places, heightening the film’s emotional impact. Alongside it, symmetrical frames and rich textures bring Earth and the heavens to life.
Through all this, the audience begins to grasp how aliens are a form of escapism for Elio — a desperate search for belonging. The viewer grapples with Elio’s grief, feeling like he has no place to go and no one to tell; still, they share his hope that somewhere out there, we are loved and accepted wholly.
In a world of sequels and remakes, it’s exciting to see new stories like “Elio” that have heart and originality. While most characters in the film follow a predictable arc — it is a children’s movie, after all — it’s still a lovely coming-of-age story for viewers of all ages.
Anticipating the film’s outcome still did not stop me from tearing up as Elio began to entertain the idea that he belongs, and that his uniqueness is special.
With this in mind, the movie concludes by disputing the idea of us being alone — perhaps predictably. What is more nuanced is how it never offers an instant solution to the solitude we might all feel within us. Maybe there is no immediate relief.
Instead, it argues that the act of trying might be a more virtuous alternative. If young Elio can try to face his grief and loneliness, hand-in-hand with his loved ones — maybe the viewer can face their own too. I think that’s a message worth keeping close.
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