Film Review: Elio

Elio
Directors: Madeline Sharafuan, Domew Shiil, Adrian Molina
Pixar Animation Studios
In Theaters: 06.20.2025

It used to be a foregone conclusion that if there was a new release from Pixar, it wouldn’t just be the best and biggest animated hit of the summer, it would be, at the very least, a contender for the title of best overall film. The studio bounced back from a sluggish and slightly directionless period with Inside Out 2 last year, but just as the titular protagonist of Elio has his eyes on the stars, all eyes have been on the film to see if Pixar can blast off again with a movie that isn’t a sequel. 

Elio Solis (Yonas Kibreab) is an imaginative and lonely 11-year-old boy who is grieving the loss of his parents, living with his aunt Olga (Zoë Saldaña, Star Trek, Emilia Pérez), a major in the Air Force who dreamed of becoming an astronaut until she became Elio’s guardian. Unable to fit in at school and believing that all he is to Olga is the reason that she can’t fulfill her dream, Elio longs for an escape and his love of astronomy and vivid imagination cause him to become obsessed with the idea of making contact with aliens. After sending a message using a strange device, he’s suddenly abducted and transported to the Communiverse, a colorful galactic hub where alien civilizations share knowledge. When he’s mistaken for the leader of Earth, Elio is nominated as a candidate for interstellar ambassador. As he navigates this dazzling new world, he encounters political tensions, including a looming threat from the biomechanical warlord Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett, Everybody Loves Raymond). With the help of Grigon’s gentle, slug-like son, Glordon (Remy Edgerly, Sing 2), Elio must rise to the challenge of representing humanity — and himself — in an alien society that sees more in him than he ever saw in himself.

Elio is a throwback to the ‘70s and early ‘80s Steven Spielberg era of wondrous, “What’s out there?” science fiction, and the catch is that Elio isn’t anything as indelibly emotional as E.T., or even among Pixar’s most profound or sophisticated works. It still packs in enough moving moments and touching, lovable character interaction to be quite satisfying, and it delivers the goods as a space adventure. In much the same way that A Bug’s Life felt like a reworking of Three Amigos!, one could argue that Elio is a variation on Galaxy Quest (and that’s another comparison that may not work in its favor), as Elio features solid comic relief but isn’t going to have you rolling in the aisles or quoting a lot of dialogue. And if your focus is solely on everything that Elio isn’t, it may be tempting to be a bit dismissive. 

If you look at it as a family space adventure with lots of kid appeal, and one that also manages to be a thoughtful treatise on both the need to belong and the expectations that we impose upon each other, there’s more than enough to love about Elio to still make it qualify as a summer standout. There’s a lot of winking references to pop science fiction sprinkled throughout, including Star Trek and even ALF, and while the name Elio doesn’t literally translate to Elliot in Spanish, those who aren’t thinking of Call Me By Your Name are likely to see it as a nod to E.T.  The voice cast is superb, with Kibreab and Edgerly adding a lot by making Elio and Glordon play like real kids rather than the kind of catchphrase-spouting moppets we get far too often in film and television. Saldaña, fresh off an Oscar win, brings depth, humanity and strong comic timing to Olga, and as an uncle who has had to be a parent at times, I found the character to be quite relatable. Garrett nearly steals the movie as Grigon, easily the best voice role he’s been given since playing Eeyore in Christopher Robin.

Elio isn’t quite a Pixar masterpiece, and yet I found it be a charming and thoroughly entertaining film. My nine-year-old nephew, budding film critic and filmmaker Timmy Gibbs, felt strongly that it was a fun variation on the tropes of the alien movie genre that gave us something new, and called it an example of great storytelling. As it happens, Timmy and I are on the same page, and we both highly recommend that you see Elio this weekend. —Patrick Gibbs

Read more family-friendly film reviews:
Film Review: How To Train Your Dragon
Film Review: Lilo & Stitch