Pixar's Elio

PIXARS’S ELIO 🚀 

When the going gets tough, get abducted by aliens.

The animation juggernauts at Pixar are back with a brand-new original film that orbits around a young orphaned boy named ELIO Solis who has become utterly obsessed with outer space. His obsession quickly becomes a prayer that one day an alien life form will come down to disrupt the unforgiving reality he faces on earth and take him away forever.

I went into ELIO completely blind, not knowing what the story was or who was in it, but I left the theatre having watched my favourite Pixar film since Coco (2017). Obviously that’s high praise, and I don’t want to set your expectations too high because your mileage on caring for this specific story and characters will definitely vary depending on what you’re into.

What had me hooked from the second the movie started was watching ELIO wander into a closed-off space exhibit where he would sit alone as he immersed himself in a visual presentation of the cosmos while a Carl Sagan narration rang throughout the hall, echoing his theories of life beyond the stars. That was one of my favourite scenes of the year. It perfectly captures what it’s like to have your curiosity sparked, to be wowed and full of wonder, which becomes the launching pad for his young life’s mission—to get abducted by aliens.

As you get older, you forget how hard it is to find a connection with people at that age when your entire existence is based on the grownups you’re around and the environments they allow you to participate in. ELIO lives with his aunt, who is trying her best but is completely out of her depth trying to balance being a provider with her aspirations to further herself towards her dream job. The way the movie approaches their relationship is true to life, where sometimes you need to change your environment to learn the lessons life continues to throw your way. They break that cycle the moment ELIO goes to space, which is when the movie takes off and is at its best.

Getting a space-based story with Pixar animation was a treat to watch, and the characters within it are just as fun.

At first I felt the alien character designs looked like uninspired blobs, but the way each species of extraterrestrial life functions adds layers to the story, their character arcs, and the overall entertainment level of how they interact with everything around them.

I will say that the story did not do a good enough job of explaining why it was better for ELIO to go back to Earth rather than continue his stay in space. Obviously, for his own safety and for the sake of traditional storytelling, he has to, but I never bought into it.

ELIO gets caught up in a misery-loves-company-type friendship that you care about so much more than his relationship with his aunt. Then again, it could be just two people trying to figure out the unknown of their relationship in a way that parallels how much we still have to learn about space.
Even as I say that, I hope we get to revisit this world again one day because it is ripe with potential.

ELIO is an introspective, interstellar adventure that conquers loneliness through the cosmos in one of Pixar’s best works in recent memory. 

Enjoy!

7.6/10 🍿 🎥

Runtime: 1hr39mins

Where: In Theatres June 20th.
Credit Scenes: Mid & Post ✅

Pixar's Elio Review (2025) The Richmond Reviewer - June 19th, 2025.

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