Elio is a lonely 11-year-old just looking for big answers about life.
He鈥檚 recently lost his parents, the only people who understood him and wanted him, and the one thing that seems to give him comfort and hope is the idea that we鈥檙e not alone in the universe. So, in Pixar's latest he starts waging a campaign for aliens to abduct him. Mostly, this involves laying down on the beach and waiting, his sand notes getting ever more desperate. Then one day it works.
It鈥檚 a solid premise that, viewed one way, has all the makings of a classic Pixar film. It鈥檚 existential but cute. It might make you cry and also want to buy a cuddly Glordon toy. Glordon (Remy Edgerly) is the toothy, slug-like young alien with no eyes who befriends Elio (Yonas Kibreab).
From a more cynical vantage point, however, it also doesn鈥檛 stray far from the formula. It鈥檚 another kid realizing that the things that make him different might just be his secret power played out on a heightened, fantastical scale. It鈥檚 safe and familiar, but also perhaps getting a little tired. 鈥淓lio鈥� might even be the film that will have you wishing that Pixar would tone down the self-help sessions. Dead parents and a kid with a single tear running down his face is a brutal way to start an for the whole family. We鈥檝e cared about protagonists with far less immediate trauma.
Elio and his aunt Olga ( ) are barely holding on when we meet them living on an army base. She鈥檚 had to abandon her dreams of being an astronaut to be Elio鈥檚 primary caregiver, and he is a tricky subject 鈥� consumed with grief that he can鈥檛 quite verbalize and channeling all of his energies into a quest to communicate with extraterrestrials. Olga is trying but overwhelmed and Elio feels like a burden. On top of it all, he can鈥檛 seem to stay out of trouble, whether it鈥檚 his own making or in self-defense against a local bully. It鈥檚 no wonder he wants to flee for a world of infinite knowledge, voice powered anti-gravity devices and spectacular colors.
But life in the cosmos is no walk in the park either. Elio gets immediately entangled in a web of lies, in which he convinces the (we鈥檙e told) wise aliens of the Communiverse that he is the leader of Earth. Fake it until you make it, Pixar-style? He鈥檚 sent to negotiate with Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett), a warmongering leader who wants to lead the Communiverse, and learns techniques like 鈥渟tart from a position of power鈥� and to use a 鈥渂argaining chip.鈥� Like most Pixar movies, it鈥檚 building towards a message of empathy. But for a good long while it we鈥檙e also being taught something akin to the art of the deal.
鈥淓lio鈥� is the work of many people 鈥� there are three credited directors, Adrian Molina ( ), who left the project but retains the credit, Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi (鈥淭urning Red鈥�), and three credited screenwriters involved. And the story stretches in a lot of different directions, making the overall experience a little disjointed and strained. It鈥檚 most fun when it lets its kid characters be kids 鈥� Elio and his new pal Glordon have a ball just playing around in the Communiverse. But the film just takes so long to get there. Dazzling visuals will only get you so far. And those are not without their pleasures and irreverent homages to film tropes in various genres. One of the more questionably intense sequences involves a bit of clone body horror, but perhaps that鈥檚 an adult projecting a horror element onto something that a kid might just find funny.
There鈥檚 a nice overriding message about parental acceptance and unconditional love 鈥� there always is. But in playing it so safe and so familiar, 鈥淓lio鈥� is missing a bit of that Pixar wonder, and mischief.
鈥淓lio,鈥� a Walt Disney Company release in theaters Friday, is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association for 鈥渢hematic elements, some action and peril.鈥� Running time. 99 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
