Elio (2025)

By: Mike Ward on Friday, June 20

PG Running Time: 99 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

  • Elio is Pixar’s 28th feature film and offers many of the qualities that audiences have grown to love and admire about the animation studio’s creations.

  • Visually dazzling, with a terrific vocal performance from newcomer Yonas Kibreab as Elio, younger viewers will likely swoon over everything the film has to offer.

  • Touches on powerful themes of grief, loss, and identity - while also tackling the one question all of us have asked ourselves at one time or another - where do I fit and where do I belong?

NO

  • More experienced viewers are going to likely start making a list of all the films Elio borrows from, ultimately running the risk of diluting the film’s larger emotional ambitions.

  • Not the strongest of scripts in the Pixar universe, though it does find emotional highs, some of the dialogue is heavy-handed and the film has been described by some as “schmaltzy.”

  • An argument could be made that the film is trying too hard. At times, Elio plays like a film that really, really wants you to love it.


OUR REVIEW

Pixar’s 28th feature film, the sci-fi-inspired Elio, revisits a familiar theme we find in many of the studio’s best stories: the loss of innocence. 

Whether discovered by a sentient robot learning about an Earth humans left behind, toys realizing their mortality, or kids facing real-world challenges and situations, Pixar films try to connect human emotion to fantastical storytelling. At their finest moments, Pixar movies cut to the core and reflect back shared human experiences.

However, these stories can start to feel overly familiar and in its opening moments, Elio places us in the middle of yet one more “dead parents” narrative that Disney and Pixar often use to stir emotions. For 11-year-old Elio Solis (Yonas Kibreab), the universe is limitless. He dreams of escaping Earth and proving that aliens exist. His obsession with contacting aliens, even being abducted by them, is in part a grief response. Elio lives with his aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña), a custodial guardian following the loss of his parents.

Olga had one day dreamed of becoming an astronaut, a dream placed on the backburner once Elio entered her life. Working long hours, her nephew is often left to his own devices. As such, he tries to build devices to reach other planets. He even lies down in a circle on the beach, with the words “Aliens Abduct Me” written around him.

Early on, Elio is playful, if not a bit messy. Directed by Oscar-winner Domee Shi (Bao, Turning Red), along with co-directors Madeline Sharafian and Adrian Molina (Coco), the film explores themes of grief, identity, belonging. Voiceovers from the late astronomer Carl Sagan are used intermittently to echo Elio’s thoughts about his place in the universe. 

Elio eventually goes galactic and Shi, Sharafian, and Molina dazzle us with The Communiverse - a vibrant world of colors, enticing visuals, and mysterious new creatures, including OOOOO (Shirley Henderson), a liquified supercomputer and Glordon (Remy Edgerly), a larval-type of insect with no eyes, crazy teeth, and lots of charisma and kindness to spare. 

Be warned … he is likely going to become your child’s favorite new movie character. 

Elio’s arrival in the Communiverse is something of an accident. The aliens have intercepted the Voyager 1 space probe, launched by NASA in 1977. Through a convoluted set of circumstances, Elio’s voice is the one the aliens hear and attempt to communicate with, after seizing Voyager 1 from space.

As voiced by newcomer Kilbreab, Elio is a charming, if not rambunctious character - full of wonder and enthusiasm. The young actor also conveys complicated feelings and emotions effectively. 

For younger viewers, the film will feel fresh and exciting. For older viewers, Elio feels like it samples freely from films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Disney’s Lilo & Stitch, and even How to Train Your Dragon.

Early on, the film struggles with pacing and rhythm. Elio and Olga’s strained relationship lacks meaningful depth, and Glordon’s father in the Communiverse, the wormy, villainous Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett) underwhelms as an antagonist when he simply cannot understand why his son does not want to follow in his footsteps. 

Still, there are scenes where Elio reminds us of Pixar’s best moments. The way Toy Story made us believe that our toys love us back. How Up brought a widowed man an unlikely friendship. The way Inside Out validated that all our emotions are worthy, including sadness. How Coco showed us that music and memories can connect generations.

Elio flirts with something just as special, especially in an emotionally charged final act. Kids will enjoy the Communiverse’s colorful detail, goofy characters, and Elio’s wide-eyed view of the world. Adults will appreciate the message that Shi, Shafarian, and Molina are aiming for.

While the story may lack originality, Elio finds a way to matter. Through Kibreab’s performance and an imaginative world brought to life on screen, this is a charming, thoughtful film families can all enjoy together.

CAST & CREW

Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Remy Edgerly, Brandon Moon, Brad Garrett, Jameela Jamil, Shirley Henderson, Dylan Gilmer, Jake Getman, Brendan Hunt, Bob Peterson, Kate Mulgrew

Director: Domee Shi, Madeline Sharafian, Adrian Molina
Written by: Julia Cho, Mark Hammer, Mike Jones (screenplay); Adrian Molina, Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Julia Cho (story), Jesse Andrews, Hannah Friedman (additional screenplay contributions)
Release Date: June 20, 2025
Walt Disney Pictures