Summary
Despite its tonal shifts and behind-the-scenes changes, ELIO delivers a visually dazzling, if somewhat compromised, original Pixar adventure that still reaches for the stars.
While it might feel like Pixar has become a sequel factory in the two decades since Disney acquired them, the split between original ideas and franchise entries has remained fairly even. ELIO falls into the former camp, but with its midstream change of directors resulting in several tonal shifts, it’s hard not to see this as something moulded to fit the house style.
Originally helmed by Coco co-director Adrian Molina, the film opens with a strong personal touch: a story of childhood, grief, and social isolation near a military base. Young Elio (Yonas Kibreab), living with his aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña) after his parents’ death, feels unwanted and becomes fixated on contacting alien life. When he’s unexpectedly transported to the Communiverse and mistaken for Earth’s leader, Elio must navigate peace talks with warlord Grigon (Brad Garrett). Instead, he bonds with Grigon’s blob-like son Glordon (Remy Edgerly) and finds a sense of belonging.
It’s hard to say exactly where Molina’s influence ends and the hands of credited directors Madeline Sharafian (Burrow) and Domee Shi (Turning Red) take over, but there are signs. Online comparisons between the first and second promotional trailers reveal numerous changes. The choice to kill off the parents is a staple of children’s literature, but one wonders what the version with America Ferrera voicing Olga as Elio’s mother might have been like. Either way, once we reach the Communiverse, the early emotional weight gives way to a pinball adventure in space, packed with cutesy characters.
Film fans will spot countless references to classic alien cinema. The obvious one is Spielberg’s E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial—Elio isn’t far from Elliott, after all—along with nods to Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Star Trek (Kate Mulgrew voices the Voyager 1 Museum Exhibit; V’ger is itself a deep Star Trek reference). ELIO never tries to reinvent these templates, instead comfortably ticking off many familiar kids’-adventure tropes along the way.
Visually and technically, though, this is one of Pixar’s most sophisticated efforts to date. Said to be shot with ‘virtual’ anamorphic lenses, Pixar’s new Luna lighting toolset is put to stunning use: Elio running through the forest at night (yet another E.T. nod) or a massive ship hovering over a dense woodland (Close Encounters again). An earlier shot, with the entire cosmos reflected in Elio’s eyes, is one of the most gorgeous images of the year.
While Disney-Pixar remains vague about the nature of Molina’s “scheduling conflicts” (rumoured to be tied to a Coco sequel), ELIO inevitably feels like a film of compromises. It’s still a good Pixar movie—making it better than most of its imitators—but falls short of greatness. Nevertheless, I’d rather see Pixar shooting for the stars than retreading old ground. In that sense, ELIO remains a welcome step in the right direction.
2025 | USA | DIRECTOR: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina | WRITERS: Julia Cho, Mark Hammer, Mike Jones (Story by Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina and Julia Cho | CAST: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldaña, Remy Edgerly, Brandon Moon, Brad Garrett, Jameela Jamil | DISTRIBUTOR: Disney | RUNNING TIME: 98 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 19 June 2025 (Australia), 20 June 2025 (USA)