Kimber Myers
A lonely, bullied orphan and an alien forge an unlikely friendship in this Disney movie. No, it’s not Lilo and Stitch, even though that live-action remake is still in theaters. Elio is the photographic negative of the film that beat it to the screen just weeks ago — and which is likely to threaten the box office prospects of this one. Instead of an alien landing among humans, Elio’s story makes it a kid’s turn to live amongst them in space. This Pixar movie does wildly original work with its animation, compensating for a story that feels like something we’ve seen many times before.
It’s sometimes easier for kids movies to get away with this; their primary audience might not have seen the many versions of the human-kid-fantastical-friend story, like E.T., Flight of the Navigator, and Pete’s Dragon, that were released perhaps before even their parents were born. (I am so old.) However, 2025’s Lilo and Stitch and the still-in-theaters, live-action redo of How to Train Your Dragon remain fresh in young hearts with their tales of the surprising bond between two species. Are kids (and their ticket-buying parents) ready for yet another take on this trope? If they are, they’ll be treated to a sweet, silly film that is mostly entertaining, but largely unremarkable outside of its visual imagination.
Elio leads with the tragic backstory of the tween of the title (voiced by Yonas Kibreab) in its opening moments. Elio doesn’t just have the dead mother that is so common in Disney movies; his father also passed in an accident with his mom (which nods to the Oscar Wilde joke about orphans for those of us who are maybe not the target audience for this picture, either in age or disposition). He lives with his Aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña) on the Air Force base where she serves. She has given up her dreams of being an astronaut to take care of her nephew, while he feels unwanted on earth and obsessed with the possibility that there is life in space. When he gets his wish and is abducted by aliens (does it count as an “abduction” if the abductee has dreamed of this moment?) he discovers a utopian society, futuristic technology, a power-hungry villain, and, most importantly, his first real friend.
That friend is Glordon (Remy Edgerly), an alien who is so adorable and sweet that I decided that I would sacrifice my life for him within seconds of his first appearance onscreen. Most animated characters known for their cuteness are typified by their big eyes, and Glordon doesn’t have any of any size. It’s a triumph of character design and Edgerly’s aww-inducing delivery. His fellow aliens and the world they inhabit are marvels of imagination and animation that don’t feel like the typical sci-fi creations (though there are some nice nods to previous works as diverse as Alien and Alf).
Yet for all its visual and emotional wonder, Elio feels as cobbled together as Elio’s childlike attempts to be beamed into the sky. Madeline Sharafian (“Burrow”) and Domee Shi (Turning Red) are the credited directors alongside Adrian Molina (Coco), who departed the project. It feels disjointed at times, with some vital information and connective tissue absent. The script, attributed to nine different people across three different jobs, doesn’t feel cohesive in the ways that the best animated films do, like Shi’s Turning Red and Molina’s Coco. It drags in points and feels far longer than its 90-ish minutes. With that in mind (and some of its darker moments that feel more inspired by Laika’s stop-motion movies than its gentler Pixar brethren), it’s perhaps better suited to slightly older kids, but mileage may vary.
This isn’t the animation studio at its finest, but there’s still plenty to recommend for families. Elio explores the idea that we aren’t alone in the universe, both here on earth and beyond. Carl Sagan’s soothing voice appears throughout the film, and amidst all this fantasy, it’s a lovely reminder of the power of science—but also of the impact of simply looking up at the stars and wondering what is beyond our current perception.
B
“Elio” is in theaters this weekend.
