Pixar’s latest has plenty of fun for kids and parents.
I think young Elio is part of the right world to want to be abducted by aliens. I’m sure many of us would hate to imagine if he got sucked up by Jean Jacket in “Nope” or came across an Xenomorph from the “Alien” franchise. But Elio is in the Disney/Pixar universe, so we don’t have to worry about those kinds of aliens.
Their latest entry “Elio” is in comparison with the studio’s best space movie “Wall-E,” which took many chances and managed to appease both kids and adults. And while this one is not up to that 2008 film’s standards, there is still enough eye candy that makes it a worthy Pixar addition.
Instead of the obligatory “E.T.” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” references, we get echos from other alien movies like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” “Nope,” “Arrival,” “Galaxy Quest,” “The Thing,” “Muppets from Space,” and even “Evolution.” At least we’re getting a break from the same old movie reference, so maybe adults can read between the lines.
“Elio” has undergone some changes, since it was pushed back a year. The director Adrian Molina (“Coco”) left the project early to focus more on the upcoming sequel “Coco 2.” So it was up to Domee Shi (“Turning Red”) and Madeline Sharafian (“Burrow”) to take over for him. And America Ferrera was originally going to voice the title hero’s mother, but she was also busy and the filmmakers felt they needed a break from the mother-son formula.
Instead, Zoe Saldana voices his Aunt Olga, who is an Air Force Major and struggling to raise Elio (voiced by Yonas Kibreab), as he tries to make alien contact. He makes a circle, uses radios, wears a colander as a makeshift antenna, and lies on the beach all day and night. He’s not, however, without bullies or his aunt’s cynicism. But an under-appreciated computer nerd (voiced by Brendan Hunt from “Ted Lasso”) gives him the opportunity to make alien contact.
As a result, his dream comes true and he ends up in what is known as the “Communiverse,” where the top alien species come together. They have special disks that can translate alien languages, warm or cool down your temperature, and even allow you to function without gravity.
I think there’s an unwritten rule where the cartoon aliens try their best to pronounce our planet correctly. Here, they say: “Uh, Earth,” because Elio says he’s the leader of “Uhhh, Earth.”
There is, however, a warmonger named Lord Grigon (voiced by Pixar veteran Brad Garrett), who believes conquering and violence are what makes him worthy of joining the Communiverse. So, Elio must use his son Glordon (voiced by Remy Edgerly) as a bargaining chip, and I suppose it’s another unwritten rule that the boy and alien must also become friends.
Before and after my viewing of this movie, I was thinking of the crossover appeal in “The Day the Earth the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie” and the adult oriented “Predator: Killer of Killers,” because this year, they were both alien animated features aiming for the different targets. “Elio” tries to appease to both crowds.
There is a clone of Elio who is made of some kind of gelatinous substance that when he accidentally cuts off his finger, he’s able to put it back. And while I think smaller kids might not like what this clone engages himself in, there is a lot of colors, flexibility, and energy that kids of any age can easily ease into. Or they could make the theater a mess. It also likes to go for the emotional jugular, by representing kids who feel like they’re aliens and wonder if they belong on Earth or somewhere else, so that’s easy to acknowledge.
From my standpoint, the story takes no risks, but it still offers some nice qualities. It has a lot bright colors, some cute aliens, good voice work (Kibreab, Edgerly, Saldana, Garrett, and Jameela Jamill as a telepathic alien ambassador), some Carl Sagan recordings, an emotional side, and a tickle or two. And plus I’m kind of jealous of those alien disks in terms of temperature control.
