Elio (2025) Review

 "Hi, Dad!  I'm a bargaining chip!"

-Glordon

Elio Solís (Yonas Kibreab) wants nothing more than to be abducted by aliens and explore the cosmos.  One night, his wish comes true and Elio is taken to space.  However, it isn't as fun as he imagined when he has to negotiate between two groups of aliens to prevent war from breaking out.

What Works:

To start with, this is a Pixar movie, so it's beautifully animated.  That should go without saying as that's what we've come to expect from Pixar, but just because it's expected doesn't mean it shouldn't be praised.

Yonas Kibreab does a great job as Elio.  Elio is an unusual protagonist in this sort of movie as he's pretty unlikable at first, but he learns and grows over the course of the story.  Throughout it all, Kibreab does a great job at giving Elio a lot of emotion.

My favorite character of the movie is Glordon, who is played perfectly by Remy Edgerly.  He's the son of the warlord leader of one of the alien factions, but he lacks the bloodthirstiness of his father.  For me, the movie picks up a lot of steam when Elio meets Glordon for the first time.  I love their dynamic.  Glordon is a very fun character.  Edgerly gives the character a very innocent side, but sometimes his dialogue reminds you of how violent his culture is.  That tonal whiplash is very funny to me.  Plus the design of Glordon is adorable.  I too, would risk my life for Glordon!

I have a few problems with this movie, but one thing it gets right is the emotional beats.  Elio is a misunderstood kid who has been through a lot of tragedy and trauma in his short life.  The relationship he has with his Aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña) is a key focus of this movie.  The other key relationship is the one between Glordon and his father, Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett).  The strain in their relationship makes it easy for Elio and Glordon to become close.  Everything with these personal relationships works great and gives the movie emotional stakes.  That's the most important element in a movie like this and Elio nails it.

Finally, there is one scene in the movie that is just straight-up horror.  It involves a clone of Elio causing a distraction.  I won't spoil what it is exactly, but this could have been ripped straight from a horror movie.  It's one of the funniest moments in the movie, but I wouldn't be surprised if it terrified more than a few kids.

What Sucks:

The movie takes quite a bit to get going and it doesn't become fully engaging until Elio and Glorgon meet up.  Part of that is Elio being a hard character to get invested in at first.  He's very unlikable to start the movie with.  I'm not saying a Pixar movie can't start with an unlikable protagonist.  Toy Story is one of my all-time favorite movies and Woody is very unlikable at the beginning of that movie.  I'm just saying Elio doesn't pull it off as well as Toy Story.

Finally, a lot of the supporting characters are underdeveloped.  A couple of characters on Earth are important to the finale of the movie, but it would have been nice to get a little bit more from them earlier on.  And the first group of aliens Elio meets are woefully underused.  We really don't learn much about their society and what their deal is besides they like to share knowledge.  I would have liked more time with Elio getting to know these characters.  

Verdict:

Elio is a solid movie, but not a standout offering from Pixar.  It takes a while to get going and the supporting characters and alien societies needed more development, but it gets the most important stuff right.  The emotional beats are fantastic and the animation is gorgeous.  The voice actors all do a great job and I love everything to do with Glordon.  Even with some flaws, this movie has absolutely got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good